a 


EH- 

AN  UP-TO-DATE:  GUIDE: 

KLONDIKE  DISTRICT 

YUKON  VALLEY 


Sand,  McNally&Co., 
'uhlishers, 

SEwAYG0RKMD  E! 


North  American 
Transportation  and 
Trading  Company 


000 


DIRECTORS... 

JOHN  J.  HEALY,  Dawson,  Klondike  Gold  Field-, 
ELY  E.  WEARE,  Fort  Cudahy.  N.  W.  T. 
CHARLES  A.  WEARE,  Chicago,  III. 
JOHN  CUDAHY,  Chicago,  III. 
PORTUS  B.  WEARE,  Chicago,  III. 
MICHAEL  CUDAHY,  Chicago,  III. 


ALASKA  and 
NORTHWEST  TERRITORY 

MERCHANTS  and  CARRIERS 


* 

STEAMERS : 

* 

TRADING  POSTS: 

Portus  B.  Weare 

* 

Fort  Get  There 

John  Cudahy 

* 

Weare 

C.  H.  Hamilton 

J.  J.  Healy 

T.  C.  Power 

J.  C.  Barr 

* 
* 
* 
* 

* 

Healy 
Circle  City 
Fort  Cudahy 

Klondike 

* 

Dawson 

Operates  Steamships 


between  Seattle  and  Ft.  Get  There,  St.  Michael's  Island,  and 
steamboats  from  Ft  Get  There,  St.  Michael's  Island  to  all 
pointson  the  Yukon  River.  The  only  established  line  running 
from  Seattle  to  Klondike.     Also  operates  large,  well-stocked 

♦  stores  at  all  of  the  principal  mining  points  in  the  interior  i  >r 

Alaska  and  Northwest  Territory  on  the  Yukon  River.  For 
rates  and  full  information  of  this  wonderful  mining  country 
call  on  or  address  anv  of  the  Company's  offices. 

Steamers  leave  September  io,  1897,  first  steamer  in    1898, 
June  (St,  and  every  two  weeks  thereafter. 

CHICAGO  OFFICE...R.  290  Old  Colony  Building 

SEATTLE,  WASH.,  0FFICE...N0.  618  First  Avenue 
SAN  FRANCISCO  OFFlf  F    "-    °  "• "  -  ' 


"THE  GREATEST  GOLD  DISTRICT  ON  EARTH." 


The  Yukon-Cariboo 
British  Columbia 
Gold  Mining 


CAPITAL 

$5,000,000   Development  Company 

Shares... 

#1.00  each.    Full  Paid-Non  Assessable. 


J.   EDWARD  ADDICKS,   President,    Claymont.  Delaware. 

SYLVESTER  T.   EVERETT,    1st  Vice-President,   Cleveland. 

BENJAMIN   BUTTERWORTH,  2d  Vice-President,  Washington. 

E.   F.  J.  GAYNOR,  Treasurer, 

Auditor  Manhattan  R.  /?.,  New  York  City. 

CHARLES  H.   KITTINGER,  Secretary. 

66  Broadway,  New  York  City,  Harrison  Building,  Philadelphia. 

DIRECTORS. 

HON.  JOHN  H.  McGRAW,  Ex-Governor,  State  of  Washington. 

Vice-President  First  National  Hank,  Seattle. 
CAMILLE  WEIDENFELD,  Banker,  45  Wall  Street,  New  York. 
CHARLES  E.  JUDSON,  President  Economic  Gas  Company,  Chicago. 
HON.  BENJAMIN  BUTTERWORTH,  Com'sioner  of  Patents,  Washington. 
HON.  JAMES  G.  SHAW,  Manufacturer,  New  Castle,  Delaware. 
NVLVESTER  T.   EVERETT,  V-Pres't  Cleveland  Terminal 

&  Valley  R.  R.,  Cleveland. 
.    HARLES  H.  KITTINGER,  66  Broadway,  New  York, 

Harrison  Building,  Philadelphia. 
HON.  JOHN  LAUGHLIN,  Ex-State  Senator,  New  York, 

Laughlin,  Ewell  &  Haupt,  Attorneys-at-Law,  Buffalo. 
I ULIUS  CHAMBERS,   lournalist,  New  York. 

GEN.  E.  M.  CARR,  of  Preston,  Carr  &  Oilman,  Attornevs-at-Law,  Seattle. 
THOMAS  W.   LAWSON,  Banker,  33  State  Street,  Boston. 
GEORGE  B.  KITTINGER,  Mining  Engineer,  Seattle,  Wash. 
E.  F.  J.  GAYNOR,  Auditor  Manhattan  Railway  Co.,  New  York. 
PHILO  D.  BEARD,  Treasurer  Queen  City  Gas  Co.,  Buffalo. 
J.   M.   BUXTON,  M.   E.,  Vancouver,  British  Columbia. 
GEORGE  A.  KELLY'.  66  Broad wav,  New  York. 
J.   EDWARD  ADDICKS.  Delaware. 


.  .  .  THIS  COMPANY  is  formed  to  explore  and  develop  the  GOLD 
FIELDS  of  British  Columbia,  including-  the  Cariboo  District  and  the  Klondike 
District  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon  River.  Shares  of  its  Capital  Stock 
are  offered  to  the  public  at  par  $1.00  per  share.  The  Company  has  placed 
exploring  parties  in  the  Gold  Regions,  and  now  has  its  own  Agents  in  this 
marvelously  rich  field.  Each  party  is  in  charge  of  mining  engineers,  fully 
equipped  for  successful  discovery  and  development. 

Prospectus  and  additional  information   furnished,  and  subscriptions  to 
stock  received  at  office  of 

J.  EDWARD  ADDICKS,  Harrison  Building, 

1500  Market  St„  Philadelphia. 


GOLDEN   ALASKA 


A    COMPLETE    ACCOUNT   TO    DATE 


Yukon  Valley 


ITS  HISTORY,  GEOGRAPHY,   MINERAL  AND  OTHER 

RESO  URGES,  OPPOR  TV XI  TIES  A  XD 

MEANS  OP  ACCESS 


Ernest  Ixgersoll, 

(Formerly  with  the  Hayden  Survey  in  the  West) 

author  of 

Knocking  'Round  the  Rockies"    "The  Crest  of  the  Continent, 

etc.,  and  General  Editor  of  Rand.  McNally  & 

Co.'s  "Guide  Books." 


Chicago  and  New  York-. 

RAND,  McNALLY    &    COMPANY. 

1S97. 


ALASKA. 

Bullion  Safe  Gold 
mining 

Companp 

CAPITAL.  .$1,000,000 

Shares... $ i  .00  each 

Full  Paid 
Non-Assessable 


Mines  on  the  Yukon. 

Mines  on  the  Blue  River. 

This  Company  owns  160  acres  of  Gold-bear- 
ing gravel  from  five  to  forty  feet  thick  con- 
taining manv  millions  of  value. 

A  limited  amount  of  the  full  paid,  non-assessable  shares 
will  be  sold  at  one  dollar  each. 

For  prospectus  and  particulars,  address, 

W.  L.  Boyd  <£  Co.,©  wall  street, 

C^NEW    YORK. 


r 


INTRODUCTION. 


To  make  "a  book  about  the  Klondike"  so  shortly 
after  that  word  first  burst  upon  the  ears  of  a  sur- 
prised world,  would  be  the  height  of  literary  impu- 
dence, considering  how  remote  and  incommunicado 
that  region  is,  were  it  not  the  public  is  intensly  cu- 
rious to  know  whatever  can  be  said  authentically  in 
regard  to  it.  "The  Klondike,"  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, is,  in  reality,  a  very  limited  district — only  one 
small  river  valley  in  a  gold-bearing  territory  twice 
as  large  as  Xew  England;  and  it  came  into  promi- 
nence so  recently  that  there  is  really  little  to  tell 
in  respect  to  it  because  nothing  has  had  time  to 
happen  and  be  communicated  to  the  outside  world. 
But  in  its  neighborhood,  and  far  north  and  south 
of  it,  are  other  auriferous  rivers,  creeks  and  bars, 
and  mountains  filled  with  untried  quartz-ledges,  in 
respect  to  which  information  has  been  accumulat- 
ing for  some  years,  and  where  at  any  moment 
"strikes"  may  be  made  that  shall  equal  or  eclipse 
the  wealth  of  the  Klondike  placers.  It  is  possible, 
then,   to  give   here   much   valuable   information   in 

.'J65948 


iv  Golden  Alaska. 

regard  to  the  Yukon  District  generally,  and  this  the 
writer  has  attempted  to  do.  The  best  authority  fur 
early  exploration  and  geography  is  the  monumen- 
tal work  of  Capt.  \V.  II.  Dull,  "Alaska  and  its  Re- 
sources," whose  companion,  Frederick  Whymper, 
also  wrote  a  narrative  of  their  adventures.  The 
reports  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  in  that 
region,  of  the  exploration  of  the  Upper  Yukon  by 
Schwatka  and  Hayes  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  of  Xelson,  Turner  and  others  attached  to 
the  Weather  Service,  of  the  Governor  of  the  Terri- 
tory, of  Raymond,  Abercrombie,  Allen  and  oilier 
army  and  naval  officers  who  have  explored  the 
coast  country  and  reported  to  various  departments 
of  the  government,  and  of  several  individual  exph  >r- 
ers,  especially  the  late  E.  J.  Glave,  also  contain  facts 
of  importance  for  the  present  compilation.  Tin- 
most  satisfactory  sources  of  information  as  to  the 
geography,  routes  of  travel,  geology  and  mineral 
ogy  and  mining  development,  are  contained  in  tin 
investigations  conducted  some  ten  years  ago  by  tin 
Canadian  Geological  Survey,  under  the  leadership 
of  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson  and  of  William  Ogilvie.  <  if 
these  I  have  made  free  use.  and  wish  to  make  an 
equally  free  acknowledgement. 

It    will    thus    be    found    that    the    content.-    of   thi> 
pamphlet  justified  even  the  hastv  publication  whid 


Golden  Alaska.  v 

the  public  demands,  and  which  precludes  much  at- 
tention to  literan'  form;  but  an  additional  claim  to 
attention  is  the  information  it  seeks  to  give  intend- 
ing travelers  to  to  that  far-away  and  very  new  and  as 
yet  unfurnished  region,  how  to  go  and  what  to 
take,  and  what  are  the  conditions  and  emergencies 
which  they  must  prepare  to  meet.  Undoubtedly  the 
pioneers  to  the  Yukon  pictured  the  difficulties  of 
the  route  and  the  hardships  of  their  life  in  the  high- 
est colors,  both  to  add  to  their  self-glory  and  to  re- 
duce competition.  Moreover,  every  day  mitigates 
the  hardships  and  makes  easier  the  travel.  Never- 
theless, enough  difficulties,  dangers  and  chances  of 
failure  remain  to  make  the  going  to  Alaska  a  matter 
for  very  careful  forethought  on  the  part  of  every 
man.  To  help  him  weigh  the  odds  and  choose 
wisely,  is  the  purpose  of  this  little  book. 


GOLDEN  ALASKA. 


ROUTES  TO  THE  YUKON   GOLD-FIELDS. 

The  gold-fields  of  the  Yukon  Valley,  at  and  near 
Klondike  River,  are  near  the  eastern  boundary  of 
Alaska,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  miles  up  from 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  from  five  to  eight  hun- 
dred miles  inland  by  the  route  across  the  country 
from  the  southern  Alaskan  coast.  In  each  case  an 
ocean  voyage  must  be  taken  as  the  first  step;  and 
steamers  may  be  taken  from  San  Francisco,  Port- 
land, Ore.,  Seattle,  Wash.,  or  from  Victoria,  B.  C. 

The  overland  routes  to  these  cities  require  a 
word. 

i.  To  San  Francisco.  This  city  is  reached  di- 
rectly by  half  a  dozen  routes  across  the  plains  and 
Rocky  Mountains,  of  which  the  Southern  Pacific, 
by  way  of  Xew  Orleans  and  El  Paso;  the  Atchison 
&  Santa  Fe  and  Atlantic  &  Pacific  by  way  of 
Kansas  City,  and  across  northern  Xew  Mexico  and 
Arizona;  the  Burlington,  Denver  &  Rio  Grande,  by 
wav  of  Denver  and  Salt  Lake  City;  and  the  Union 


8  Golden  Alaska. 

and  Central   Pacific,  by  way  of  Omaha, Ogden  and 
Sacramento,  are  the  principal  ones. 

2.  To  Portland,  Oregon.  This  is  reached  directly 
by  the  Union  Pacific  and  Oregon  Short  Line,  via 
Omaha  and  Ogden;  and  by  the  Northern  Pacific, 
via  St.  Paul  and  Helena,  Montana. 

3.  To  Seattle.  Wash.  This  city,  Tacoma,  Port 
Townsend  and  other  ports  on  Puget  Sound,  are 
the  termini  of  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  and 
also  of  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  from  St.  Paul 
along  the  northern  boundary  of  the  United  States. 
The  Canadian  Pacific  will  also  take  passengers  there 
expeditiously  by  rail  or  boat  from  Vancouver,  B.  C. 

4.  To  Vancouver  and  Victoria,  B.  C.  Any  of 
the  routes  heretofore  mentioned  reach  Victoria  by 
adding  a  steamboat  journey;  but  the  direct  route, 
and  one  of  the  pleasantest  of  all  the  transcontinental 
routes,  is  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  from 
Montreal  or  Chicago,  via  Winnipeg.  Manitoba,  to 
the  coast  at  Vancouver,  whence  a  ferry  crosses  to 
Victoria. 

Regular  routes  of  transportation  to  Alaska  are 
supplied  by  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company, 
which  has  been  dispatching  mail-steamships  once  a 
fortnight  the  year  round  from  Tacoma  to  Sitka, 
which  touch  at  Juneau  and  all  other  ports  of  call. 
Thev  also  maintain  a  service  of  steamers  between 


Golden  Alaska.  9 

San  Francisco  and  Portland  and  Puget  Sound  ports. 
These  are  fitted  with  every  accommodation  and  lux- 
ury for  tourist-travel;  and  an  extra  steamer,  the 
Queen,  has  been  making  semi-monthly  trips  during 
June,  July  and  August.  These  steamers  would 
carry  250  passengers  comfortably  and  the  tourist 
fare  for  the  round  trip  has  been  $100. 

The  Canadian  Pacific  Navigation  Company  has 
been  sending  semi-monthly  steamers  direct  from 
Victoria  to  Port  Simpson  and  way  stations  the  year 
round.  They  are  fine  boats,  but  smaller  than  the 
others  and  are  permitted  to  land  only  at  Sitka  and 
Dyea. 

Such  are  the  means  of  regular  communication 
with  Alaskan  ports.  There  has  been  no  public  con- 
veyance north  of  Sitka,  except  twice  or  thrice  a 
year  in  summer  in  the  supply-steamers  of  the  Alas- 
kan commercial  companies,  which  sailed  from  San 
Francisco  to  St.  Michael  and  there  transferred  to 
small  boats  up  the  Yukon. 

Whether  any  changes  will  be  made  in  these 
schedules  for  the  season  of  1898  remains  to  be 
seen. 

Special  steamers. — As  the  regular  accommoda- 
tions were  found  totally  inadequate  to  the  demand 
for  passage  to  Alaska  which  immediately  followed 
the  report  of  rich   discoveries  on   Klondike   Creek, 


io  Golden  Alaska. 

extra  steamers  were  hastily  provided  by  the  old 
companies,  others  are  fitted  up  and  sent  out  by 
speculative  owners,  and  some  have  been  privately 
chartered.  A  score  or  more  steamships,  loaded  with 
passengers,  horses,  mules  and  burros  (donkeys)  to 
an  uncomfortable  degree,  were  thus  despatched  from 
San  Francisco,  Puget  Sound  and  Victoria  between 
the  middle  of  July  and  the  middle  of  August.  An 
example  of  the  way  the  feverish  demand  for  trans- 
portation is  found  in  the  case  of  the  Willamette, 
a  collier,  which  was  cleaned  out  in  a  few  hours  and 
turned  into  an  extemporized  passenger-boat.  The 
whole  'tween  decks  space  was  filled  with  rough 
bunks,  wonderfully  close  together,  for  "first-class" 
passengers;  while  away  down  in  the  hold  second- 
class  arrangements  were  made  which  the  mind  shud- 
ders to  contemplate.  Yet  this  slave-ship  sort  of  a 
chance  was  eagerly  taken,  and  such  space  as  was 
left  was  crowded  with  animals  and  goods.  Many 
persons  and  parties  bought  or  chartered  private 
steamers,  until  the  supply  of  these  was  exhausted 
by  the  end  of  August. 
Two  routes  may  be  chosen  to  the  gold-fields. 

i.  By  way  of  the  Yukon  River.  This  is  all  the 
way  by  water,  and  means  nearly  4,500  miles  of  voy- 
aging. 

2.    By  way  of  the  seaports  of  Dyea  or  Shkagway, 


.  ■■'■  -i         i 


Golden  Alaska,  13 

over  mountain  passe?,  afoot  or  a-horseback,  and 
down  the  upper  Yukon  River  and  down  the  lakes 
and  rivers  by  raft,  skiff  and  steamboat. 

To  describe  these  routes  is  the  next  task — first, 
that  by  the  way  of  St.  Michael,  and  second — up  the 
Yukon  River. 

Route,  via  St.  Michael  and  the  Yukon  River. — 
This  begins  by  a  sea-voyage,  which  may  be  direct, 
or  along  the  coast.  The  special  steamers  (and  fu- 
ture voyages,  no  doubt)  usually  take  a  direct  course 
across  the  Xorth  Pacific  and  through  the  Aleutian 
Islands  to  St.  Michael,  in  Norton  Sound,  a  bight  of 
Bering  Sea.  The  distance  from  San  Francisco  is 
given  as  2,850  miles;  from  Victoria  or  Seattle,  about 
2,200  miles.  The  inside  course  would  be  somewhat 
longer,  would  follow  the  route  next  to  be  described 
as  far  as  Juneau  and  Sitka,  then  strike  northwest 
along  the  coast  to  St.  Michael. 

This  town,  on  an  island  near  shore  in  Norton 
Sound,  was  established  in  1835  by  Lieut.  Michael 
Tebenkoff,  of  the  Russian  navy,  who  named  it  after 
his  patron  saint.  Though  some  distance  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Yukon  entrance.  St.  Michael  has  al- 
ways been  the  controlling  center  and  base  of  sup- 
plies for  the  great  valley.  The  North  American 
Trading  and  Transportation  Company  and  the  Alas- 
ka   Commercial    Company   have   their  large   ware- 


14  Golden  Alaska. 

houses  here,  and  provide  the  miners  with  tools, 
clothing  and  provisions.  Recently  the  wharf  and 
warehouse  accommodations  have  been  extended. 
and  the  population  has  increased,  but  if,  as  is  prob- 
able, any  considerable  number  of  men  are  stopped 
there  this  fall  by  the  freezing  of  the  river,  and  com- 
pelled to  pass  the  winter  on  the  island,  they  will 
find  it  a  dreary,  if  not  dangerous  experience. 

The  vessels  supplying  this  depot  can  seldom  ap- 
proach the  anchorage  of  St.  Michael  before  the  end 
of  June  on  account  of  large  bodies  of  drifting  ice 
that  beset  the  waters  of  Norton  Sound  and  the  straits 
between  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Yukon  Delta. 

A  temporary  landing-place  is  built  out  into  water 
deep  enough  for  loaded  boats  drawing  five  feet  to 
come  up  at  high  tide,  this  is  removed  when  winter 
approaches,  as  otherwise  it  would  be  destroyed  by 
ice.  The  shore  is  sandy  and  affords  a  moderately 
sloping  beach,  on  which  boats  may  be  drawn  up. 
A  few  feet  only  from  high  water  mark  are  perpen- 
dicular banks  from  six  to  ten  feet  high,  composed 
of  decayed  pumice  and  ashes,  covered  with  a  layer 
about  four  feet  thick  of  clay  and  vegetable  matter 
resembling  peat.  This  forms  a  nearly  even  meadow 
with  numerous  pools  of  water,  which  gradually  as- 
cends for  a  mile  or  so  to  a  low  hill,  of  volcanic  ori- 
gin, known  as  the  Shaman  Mountain. 


Golden  Alaska.  15 

Between  the  point  on  which  St.  Michael  is  built 
and  the  mainland,  a  small  arm  of  the  sea  makes  in, 
in  which  three  fathoms  may  be  carried  until  the 
flagstaff  of  the  fort  bears  wrest  by  north,  this  is  the 
best-protected  anchorage,  and  has  as  much  water 
and  as  good  bottom  as  can  be  found  much  farther 
out. 

The  excitement  of  the  summer  of  1897  caused  an 
enlargement  of  facilities  and  the  erection  of  addi- 
tional buildings,  forming  a  nucleus  of  traffic  called 
Fort  Get  There.  Here  will  be  put  together  in  the 
autumn  or  winter  at  least  three,  and  perhaps  more, 
new  river  steamboats,  of  which  only  two  or  three 
have  been  running  on  the  lower  river  during  the 
last  two  or  three  years.  These  are  taken  up,  in 
pieces,  by  ships  and  fitted  together  at  this  point.  All 
are  flat-bottomed,  stern-wheeled,  powerfully  engined 
craft,  the  largest  able  to  carry  perhaps  250  tons, 
such  as  run  on  the  upper  Missouri,  and  they  will 
burn  wood,  the  cutting  and  stacking  of  which  on 
the  river  bank  will  furnish  work  to  many  men  dur- 
ing the  coming  winter.  To  such  steamers,  or  small- 
er boats,  all  the  persons  and  cargoes  must  be  trans- 
ferred at  St.  Michael. 

For  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  no  trader 
here  but  the  agent  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Com- 
pany, and  a  story  is  told  of  the  building  of  a  river- 


16  Golden  Alaska. 

boat  there  in  1892,  which  illustrates  what  life  on 
the  Yukon  used  to  be.  In  that  year  a  Chicago  man, 
P.  B.  Weare,  resolved  to  enter  the  Alaskan  field  as 
a  trader.  He  chartered  a  schooner,  and  placed  upon 
it  a  steamboat,  built  in  sections  and  needing  only  to 
be  put  together  and  have  its  machinery  set  up,  and 
for  this  purpose  he  took  with  him  a  force  of  car- 
penters and  machinists.  On  reaching  St.  Michael 
Weare  was  refused  permission  to  land  his  boat  sec- 
tions on  the  land  of  the  Commercial  Company's 
post,  and  was  compelled  to  make  a  troublesome 
landing  on  the  open  beach,  where  he  began  opera- 
tions. Suddenly  his  ship  carpenters  stopped  work. 
They  had  been  offered,  it  was  said,  double  pay  by 
the  rival  concern  if  they  would  desist  from  all  work. 
Weare  turned  to  the  Indians,  but  with  the  same  ill- 
success.  The  Indians  were  looking  out  for  their 
winter  grub.  Here  was  the  Chicago  man  2,500 
miles  from  San  Francisco  and  only  two  weeks 
left  to  him  in  which  to  put  his  boat  together  and 
then  hope  for  a  chance  to  ascend  the  river  before 
winter  came  on.  There  was  no  time  in  which  to 
get  additional  men  from  San  Francisco.  In  the 
midst  of  his  trouble  Weare  one  day  espied  the  rev- 
enue cutter  Bear  steaming  into  the  roadstead.  On 
board  of  her  was  Captain  Michael  A.  Heal}'.  That 
officer,  on  going  ashore  and  discovering  the  con- 


Golden  Alaska.  19 

dition  of  affairs,  threatened  to  hang  every  carpenter 
and  mechanic  Weare  had  brought  up  if  they  failed 
to  immediately  commence  work.  The  men  went  to 
work,  and  with  them  went  a  gang  of  men  from  the 
Bear.  The  little  steamer  was  put  together  in  a  few 
days,  and  the  Bear  only  went  to  sea  after  seeing 
the  P.  B.  Weare  steaming  into  the  mouth  of  the 
Yukon. 

The  Weare  was  enabled  that  summer  to  land  her 
stores  along  the  Yukon,  and  was  the  only  vessel 
available  for  the  early  crowds  of  miners  going  to 
Klondike. 

The  mouth  of  the  Yukon  is  a  great  delta,  sur- 
rounded by  marsh  of  timber — a  soaking  prairie  in 
summer,  a  plain  of  snow  and  ice  in  winter.  The 
shifting  bars  and  shallows  face  out  from  this  delta 
far  into  Bering  Sea,  and  no  channel  has  yet  been 
discovered  whereby  an  ocean  steamer  could  enter 
any  of  the  mouths.  Fortunately  the  northernmost 
mouth,  nearest  St.  Michael  and  65  miles  from  it,  is 
navigable  for  the  light  river  steamers,  and  this  one, 
called  Aphoon.  and  marked  by  its  unusual  growth 
of  willows  and  bushes  is  well  known  to  the  local 
Russian  and  Indian  pilots.  It  is  narrow  and  intri- 
cate, and  the  general  course  up  stream  is  south- 
southeast.  Streams  and  passages  enter  it,  and  it  has 
troublesome  tidal   currents.     The  whole  space  be- 


20  Golden  Alaska. 

tween  the  mouth  is  a  net-work,  indeed,  of  narrow 
channels,  through  the  marshes. 

Kutluck,  at  the  outlet  of  the  Aphoon,  on  Tastol 
Bay,  is  an  Indian  village  ,long  celebrated  for  its  man- 
ufacture of  skin  boats  (bidars),  and  there  the  old- 
time  voyagers  were  accustomed  to  get  the  only 
night's  sleep  ashore  that  navigation  permits  between 
St.  Michael  and  Andraefski.  On  the  south  bank 
of  the  main  stream,  at  the  head  of  the  delta,  is  the 
Roman  Catholic  mission  of  Kuslivuk;  and  a  few 
miles  higher,  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Andraef- 
ski River,  is  tne  abandoned  Russian  trading  post, 
Andraefski,  above  which  the  river  winds  past  Icog- 
mute,  where  there  is  a  Greek  Catholic  mission.  The 
banks  of  the  river  are  much  wooded,  and  the  cur- 
rent even  as  far  down  as  Koserefski  averages  over 
three  knots  an  hour.  Above  Koserefski  (the  Cath- 
olic Mission  station),  the  course  is  along  stretches 
of  uninviting  country,  among  marsh  islands  and 
''sloughs,''  the  current  growing  more  and  more 
swift  on  the  long  reach  from  Auvik,  where  the  Epis- 
copal mission  is  situated,  to  Xulato. 

The  river  here  has  a  nearly  north  and  south 
course,  parallel  with  the  coast  of  Norton  Sound  and 
within  fifty  miles  or  so  of  it.  Two  portages  across 
here  form  cut-offs  in  constant  use  in  winter  by  the 
traders,  Indians  and  missionaries.     The  first  of  these 


Golden  Alaska.  21 

portages  starts  from  the  mainland  opposite  the  Isl- 
and of  St.  Michael,  and  passes  over  the  range  of  hills 
that  defines  the  shore  to  the  headwaters  of  the  An- 
vik  River.  This  journey  may  be  made  in  winter  by 
sledges  and  thence  down  the  Auvik  to  the  Yukon, 
but  it  is  a  hard  road.  Air.  Xelson,  the  naturalist, 
and  a  fur  trader,  spent  two  months  from  November 
16,  1880,  to  January  19,  1891,  in  reaching  the  Yu- 
kon by  this  path. 

The  other  portage  is  that  between  Unalaklik,  a 
Swedish  mission  station  at  the  mouth  of  the  Unalak- 
lik River,  some  fifty  miles  north  of  St.  Michael,  and 
a  stream  that  enters  the  Yukon  half  way  between 
Auvik  and  Xulato.  In  going  from  St.  Michael  to 
Unalatlik  there  are  few  points  at  which  a  boat  can 
land  even  in  the  smoothest  weather;  in  rough 
weather  only  Major':  Cove  and  Kegiktowenk  before 
rounding  Tolstoi  Point  to  Topanika,  where  there  is 
a  trading  post.  Topanika  is  some  ten  miles  from 
Unalaklik,  with  a  high  shelving  beach,  behind  which 
rise  high  walls  of  sandstone  in  perpendicular  bluffs 
from  twenty  to  one  hundred  feet  in  height.  This 
beach  continues  all  the  way  to  the  Unalaklik  River, 
the  bluff  gradually  decreasing  into  a  marshy  plain  at 
the  river's  mouth,  which  is  obstructed  by  a  bar  over 
which  at  low  tide  there  are  only  a  few  feet  of  water 
except  in  a  narrow  and  tortuous  channel,  constantly 


22  Golden  Alaska. 

changing  as  the  river  deposits  fresh  detritus.  Inside 
this  bar  there  are  two  or  three  fathoms  for  a  few 
miles,  but  the  channel  has  only  a  few  feet,  most  of 
the  summer,  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  Ulu- 
kuk. 

Trees  commence  along  the  Unalaklik  River  as 
soon  as  the  distance  from  the  coast  winds  and  silt 
air  permit  them  to  grow;  willow,  poplar,  birch  and 
spruce  being  those  most  frequently  found. 

The  Unalaklik  River  is  followed  upward  to  Ulu- 
kuk.  where  begins  a  sledging  portage  over  the 
marshes  to  the  Llukuk  Hills,  where  there  is  a  na- 
tive village  known  as  Yesolia  Sopka,  or  Cheerful 
Peak,  at  an  altitude  of  eight  hundred  feet  above  the 
surrounding  plain.  This  is  a  well-known  trapping 
ground,  the  fox  and  marten  being  very  plentiful. 
From  Sopka  Yesolia  (Cheerful  Feak)  it  is  about 
one  day's  journey  to  Beaver  Lake,  which  is  only 
a  marshy  tundra  in  winter,  but  is  flooded  in  the 
spring  and  summer  month-.  From  the  high  hills 
beyond  the  lake  one  may  catch  a  first  glimpse  of  the 
great   Yukon  sweeping  between  its  splendid  banks. 

The  native.-  call  Xulato  emphatically  a  "hungry" 
place,  and  it  was  once  the  scene  of  an  atrocious  mas- 
sacre. Capt.  Dall,  from  whose  book  much  of  the 
information  regarding  this  part  of  Alaska  is  derived, 
describes  the  Indians  here  as  a  verv  <jreat  nuisance. 


OLD    RUSSIAN    BLOCK   HOUSE    AT  SITKA. 


Golden  Alaska.  25 

"They  had,"  he  explains,  "a  great  habit  of  coming 
in  and  sitting  down,  doing  and  saying  nothing,  but 
watching  everything.  At  meal  times  they  seemed 
to  count  and  weigh  every  morsel  we  ate,  and  were 
never  backward  in  assisting  to  dispose  of  the  re- 
mains of  the  meal.  Occasionally  we  would  get  des- 
perate and  clean  them  all  out,  but  they  would  drop 
in  again  and  we  could  do  nothing  but  resign  our- 
selves." 

The  soil  on  the  banks  of  the  Yukon  and  that  of 
the  islands  probably  never  thaws  far  below  the  sur- 
face. It  is  certain  that  no  living  roots  are  found  at 
a  greater  depth  than  three  feet.  The  soil,  in  layers 
that  seems  to  mark  annual  inundations,  consists  of 
a  stratum  of  sand  overlaid  by  mud  and  covered  with 
vegetable  matter,  the  layers  being  from  a  half  inch 
to  three  inches  in  thickness.  In  many  places  where 
the  bank  has  been  undermined  these  layers  may  be 
counted  by  the  hundred.  Low  bluffs  of  blue  sand- 
stone, with  here  and  there  a  high  gravel  bank,  char- 
acterize the  shores  as  far  as  Point  Sakataloutan,  and 
some  distance  above  this  point  begin  the  quartzose 
rocks. 

The  next  station  on  the  river  is  the  village  of  No- 
wikakat,  on  the  left  bank.  Here  may  be  obtained 
stores  of  dried  meat  and  fat  from  the  Indians.  The 
village  is  situated  upon  a  beautiful  bay  or  Nowika- 


26  Golden  Alaska. 

kat  Harbor,  which  is  connected  by  a  narrow  en- 
trance with  the  Yukon.  "Through  this  a  beautiful 
view  is  obtained  across  the  river,  through  the  numer- 
ous islands  of  the  opposite  shore,  and  of  the  Yukon 
Mountains  in  the  distance.  The  feather)'  willows 
and  light  poplars  bend  over  and  are  reflected  in  the 
dark  water,  unmixed  as  yet  with  Yukon  mud; 
even-  island  and  hillside  is  clothed  in  the  delicate 
green  of  spring,  and  luxuriates  in  a  density  of  foli- 
age remarkable  in  such  a  latitude." 

Xowikakat  is  specially  noted  for  the  excellence  of 
its  canoes,  of  which  the  harbor  is  so  full  that  a  boat 
makes  its  landing  with  difficult}"  among  them.  It  is 
the  only  safe  place  on  the  lower  Yukon  for  winter- 
ing a  steamer,  as  it  is  sheltered  from  the  freshets 
which  bring  down  great  crushes  of  ice  in  the  spring. 

At  Xuklukahyet  there  is  a  mission  of  the  Episco- 
pal church  and  a  trading  store,  but  there  may  or 
may  not  be  supplies  of  civilized  goods,  not  to  speak 
of  moose  meat  and  fat.  This  is  the  neutral  ground 
where  all  the  tribes  meet  in  the  spring  to  trade. 
The  Tananah,  which  flows  into  the  Yukon  at  this 
point,  is  much  broader  here  than  the  Yukon,  and 
it  is  here  that  Captain  Dall  exclaims  in  his  diary: 
"And  yet  into  this  noble  river  no  white. .man  has 
dipped  his  paddle."  Recently,  however,  the  Tana- 
nah lias  been  more  or  less  explored  by  prospectors 


Golden  Alaska.  27 

with  favorable  results  towards  the  head  of  the  river, 
which  is  more  easily  reached  overland  from  Circle 
City  and  the  Birch  Creek  camps. 

Leaving  Nuklukahyet,  the  "Ramparts"  are  soon 
sighted,  and  the  Yukon  rapids  sweep  between  bluffs 
and  hills  which  rise  about  fifteen  hundred  feet  above 
the  river,  which  is  not  more  than  half  a  mile  wide  and 
seems  almost  as  much  underground  as  a  river  bed 
in  a  canyon.  The  rocks  are  metaphoric  quartzites, 
and  the  river-bed  is  crossed  by  a  belt  of  granite. 
The  rapid  current  has  worn  the  granite  away  at 
either  side,  making  two  good  channels,  but  in  the 
center  lies  an  island  of  granite  over  which  the  water 
plunges  at  high  water,  the  fall  being  about  twelve 
feet  in  half  a  mile. 

Beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Tananah  the  Yukon 
begins  to  widen,  and  it  is  filled  with  small  islands. 
The  mountains  disappear,  and  just  beyond  them  the 
Totokakat,  or  Dall  River  of  Ketchum,  enters  the 
Yukon  from  the  north.  Beyond  this  point  the  river, 
ever  broadening,  passes  the  "Small  Houses,"  de- 
serted along  the  bank  at  the  time,  years  ago,  when 
the  scarlet  fever,  brought  by  a  trading  vessel  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Chilkat,  spread  to  the  Upper  Yukon 
and  depopulated  the  station.  This  place  is  noted 
for  the  abundance  of  its  game  and  fish. 

The  banks  of  the  river  above  this  point  become 


2&  Golden  Alaska. 

very  low  and  flat,  the  plain  stretching  almost  un- 
broken to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

The  next  stream  which  empties  into  the  Yukon 
is  Beaver  Creek,  and  farther  on  the  prospector 
bound  for  Circle  City  may  make  his  way  some  two 
hundred  miles  up  Birch  Creek,  along  which  much 
gold  has  already  been  discovered,  to  a  portage  of 
six  miles,  which  will  carry  him  within  six  miles  of 
Circle  City  on  the  west. 

Meanwhile  the  Yukon  passes  Porcupine  River  and 
Fort  Yukon,  the  old  trading-post  founded  in  1S46-7, 
about  a  mile  farther  up  the  river  than  the  present 
fort  is  situated.  The  situation  was  changed  in  1864, 
owing  to  the  undermining  of  the  Yukon,  which 
yearly  washed  away  a  portion  of  the  steep  bank  un- 
til the  foundation  timbers  of  the  old  Redoubt  over- 
hung the  flood. 

Many  small  islands  encumber  the  river  from  Fort 
Yukon  to  Circle  City,  and  the  river  flows  along  the 
rich  lowland  to  the  towns  and  mining  centers  of  the 
new  El  Dorado,  an  account  of  which  belongs  to 
a  future  chapter. 

This  voyage  can  be  made  only  between  the  middle 
of  June  and  the  middle  of  September,  and  requires 
about  forty  days,  at  best,  from  San  Francisco  to  Cir- 
cle City  or  Forty  Mile. 

Route  via  Juneau,  the  Passes  and  down  the  Up- 


■§*     J***:1*. 


INDIAN    TOTEM    POLE.   TORT    SIMPSO^ 


Golden  Alaska.  31 

per  Yukon  River.  The  second  and  more  usual,  be- 
cause shorter  and  quicker  course,  is  that  to  the 
head  of  Lynn  Canal  (Taiya  Inlet)  and  overland. 
This  coast  voyage  may  be  said  to  begin  at  Victoria, 
B.  C.  (since  all  coast  steamers  gather  and  stop 
there).,  where  a  large  number  of  persons  prefer  to 
buy  their  outfits,  since  by  so  doing,  and  obtaining 
a  certificate  of  the  fact,  they  avoid  the  custom  du- 
ties exacted  at  the  boundary  line  on  all  goods  and 
equipments  brought  from  the  United  States.  Victo- 
ria is  well  supplied  with  stores,  and  is,  besides,  one 
of  the  most  interesting  towns  on  the  Pacific  coast. 
The  loveliest  place  in  the  whole  neighborhood  is 
Beacon  Hill  Park,  and  is  well  worth  a  visit  by  those 
who  find  an  hour  or  two  on  their  hands  before  the 
departure  of  the  steamer.  It  forms  a  half-natural, 
half-cultivated  area  of  the  shore  of  the  Straits  of 
Fuca,  where  coppices  of  the  beautiful  live  oak,  and 
many  strange  trees  and  shrubs  mingled  with  the  all- 
pervading  evergreens. 

Within  three  miles  of  the  city,  and  reached  by 
street  cars,  is  the  principal  station  in  the  North  Pa- 
cific of  the  British  navy,  at  Esquimault  Bay.  This 
is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  harbors  in  the  world, 
and  a  beginning  is  made  of  fortifications  upon  a  very 
large  scale  and  of  the  most  modern  character.  This 
station,  in  many  respects,  is    the    most    interest- 


32  Golden  Alaska. 

ing    place    on     the     Pacific    coast    of     Canada. 

Leaving  Victoria,  the  steamer  makes  its  way  cau- 
tiously through  the  sinuous  channels  of  the  harbor 
into  the  waters  of  Fuca  Strait,  but  this  is  soon  left 
behind  and  the  steamer  turns  this  way.  and  that,  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Georgia,  among  those 
islands  through  which  runs  the  international  boun- 
dary line,  and  for  the  possession  of  which  England 
and  the  United  States  nearly  went  to  war  in  1862. 
The  water  at  first  is  pale  and  somewhat  opaque,  for 
it  is  the  current  of  the  great  Fraser  gliding  far  out 
upon  the  surface,  and  the  steamer  passes  on  beyond 
it  into  the  darker,  clearer,  salter  waters  of  the  gulf. 
Then  the  prow  is  headed  to  Vancouver,  where  the 
mails,  freight  and  new  railway  passengers  are  re- 
ceived. 

From  Vancouver  the  steamer  crosses  to  Xanaimo, 
a  large  settlement  on  Vancouver  Island,  where  coal 
mines  of  great  importance  exist.  A  railway  now 
connects  this  point  with  Victoria,  and  a  wagon  road 
crosses  the  interior  of  the  island  to  Alberni  Canal 
and  the  seaport  at  its  entrance  on  Barclay  Sound. 
This  is  the  farthest  northern  telegraph  point.  The 
mines  at  Xanaimo  were  exhausted  some  time  ago. 
after  which  deep  excavations  were  made  on  Xew- 
castle  Island,  just  opposite  the  town.  Tut  after  a 
tremendous  fire  these  also  were  abandoned,  and  all 


Golden  Alaska.  33 

the  workings  are  now  on  the  shores  of  Departure 
Bay,  where  a  colliery  village  named  Wellington  has 
been  built  up.  A  steam  ferry  connects  Xanaimo 
with  Wellington;  and  while  the  steamer  takes  in  its 
coal,  the  passengers  disperse  in  one  or  the  other  vil- 
lage, go  trout  fishing,  shooting  or  botanizing  in  the 
neighboring  woods,  or  trade  and  chaffer  with  the 
Indians.  Xanaimo  has  anything  but  the  appear- 
ance of  a  mining  town.  The  houses  do  not  stretch 
out  in  the  squalid,  soot-covered  rows  familiar  to 
Pennsylvania,  but  are  scattered  picturesquely,  and 
surrounded  by  gardens. 

Just  ahead  lie  the  splendid  hills  of  Texada  Island, 
whose  iron  mines  yield  ore  of  extraordinary  purity, 
which  is  largely  shipped  to  the  United  States  to  be 
made  into  steel.  The  steamer  keeps  to  the  left,  mak- 
ing its  way  through  Bayne's  Sound,  passing  Cape 
Lazaro  on  the  left  and  the  upper  end  of  Texada  on 
the  right,  across  the  broadening  water  along  the 
Vancouver  shore  into  Seymour  Xarrows.  These 
narrows  are  only  about  900  yards  wide,  and  in  them 
there  is  an  incessant  turmoil  and  bubbling  of  cur- 
rents. This  is  caused  by  the  collision  of  the  streams 
which  takes  place  here;  the  flood  stream  from  the 
south,  through  the  Strait  of  Fuca  and  up  the  Haro 
Archipelago  being  met  by  that  from  Queen  Char- 
lotte Sound  and  Johnstone  straits.    These  straits  are 


34 


Golden  Alaska. 


about  140  miles  long,  and  by  the  time  their  full 
length  is  passed,  and  the  maze  of  small  islands 
on  the  right  and  Vancouver's  bulwark  on  the  left 
are  escaped  together,  the  open  Pacific  shows  itself 
for  an  hour  or  two  in  the  offing  of  Queen  Charlotte's 
Sound,  and  the  steamer  rise-  and  falls  gently  upon 
long,  lazy  rollers  that  have  swept  all  the  way  from 
China  and  Polynesia.  Otherwise  the  whole  voyage 
is  in  sheltered  water.-,  and  seasickness  is  impossible. 
The  steamer's  course  now  hugs  the  shore,  turning 
into  Pitz  Hugh  Sound,  among  Calvert,  Hunter's 
and  Pardswell  islands,  where  the  ship's  spars  some- 
times brush  the  overhanging  trees.  Here  are  the 
entrances  to  Burke  Channel  and  Dean's  Canal  that 
penetrate  far  amid  the  tremendous  cliffs  of  the  main- 
land mountains.  Beyond  these  the  steamer  dashes 
across  the  open  bight  of  Milbank  Sound  only  to  en- 
ter the  lung  pa>sages  behind  Princess  Royal.  Pit 
and  Packer  islands,  and  coming  out  at  last  into 
Dixon  Sound  at  the  extremity  of  British  Columbia's 
ragged  coast  line. 

d  he  fog-  which  prevail  here  are  due  to  the  fact 
that  this  bight  is  tilled  with  the  waters  of  the  warm 
Japanese  current  and  the  gulf  stream  of  the  Pacific 
from  which  the  warm  moisture  rises  to  be  condensed 
by  the  cool  air  that  descends  from  the  neighboring 
mountains,    into    the    dense    foirs    and    heavv    rain 


Golden  Alaska.  $7 

storms  to  which  the  littoral  forest  owes  its  extra- 
ordinary luxuriance.  During  the  mid-summer  and 
early  autumn,  however,  the  temperature  of  air  and 
water  become  so  nearly  equable  that  fog  and  rain 
are  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule. 

Crossing  the  invisible  boundary  into  Alaska  the 
steamer  heads  straight  toward  Fort  Tougass,  on 
Wales  Island,  once  a  military  station  of  the  United 
States,  but  now  only  a  fishing  place.  Between  this 
point  and  Fort  YVrangel  another  abandoned  military 
post  of  the  United  States,  two  or  three  fish  canneries 
and  trading  stations  are  visited  and  the  ship  goes  on 
among  innumerable  islands  and  along  wide  reaches 
of  sound  to  Taku  Inlet  (which  deeply  indents  the 
coast,  and  is  likely  in  the  near  future  to  become  an 
important  route  to  the  gold  fields),  and  a  few  hours 
later  Juneau  City  is  reached. 

Juneau  City  has  been  lately  called  the  key  to  the 
Klondike  regions,  as  it  is  the  point  of  departure  for 
the  numberless  gold  hunters  who,  when  the  season 
opens  again,  will  rush  blindly  over  incalculably  rich 
ledges  near  the  coast  to  that  remote  inland  El  Do- 
rado of  their  dreams. 

Juneau  has  for  seventeen  years  been  supported  by 
the  gold  mines  of  the  neighboring  coast.  Tt  is  situ- 
ated ten  miles  above  the  entrance  of  (lastineau  Chan- 
nel, and  lies  at  the  base  of  precipitous   mountains. 


38  Golden  Alaska. 

its  court  house,  hotels,  churches,  schools,  hospital 
and  opera  house  forming-  the  nucleus  for  a  popula- 
tion which  in  1893  aggregated  1,500,  a  number  very 
largely  increased  each  winter  by  the  miners  who 
gather  in  from  distant  camps.  The  saloons,  of  which 
in  1871  there  were  already  twenty-two,  have  in- 
creased proportionately,  and  there  are,  further,  at 
least  one  weekly  newspaper,  one  volunteer  fire  bri- 
gade, a  militia  company  and  a  brass  band  in  Juneau. 
The  curio  shops  on  Front  and  Seward  streets  are  well 
worth  visiting,  and  from  the  top  of  Seward  Street  a 
path  leads  up  to  the  Auk  village,  whose  people 
claim  the  flats  at  the  mouth  of  Gold  Creek.  A  curi- 
ous cemetery  may  be  seen  on  the  high  ground  across 
the  creek,  ornamented  with  totemic  carvings  and 
hung  with  offerings  to  departed  spirits  which  no 
white  man  dares  disturb. 
FROM  JUNEAU  TO  THE  GOLD  FIELDS. 

The  few  persons  who  formerly  wished  to  go  to 
the  head  of  Lynn  Canal  did  so  mainly  by  canoeing, 
or  chartered  launches,  but  now  many  opportunities 
are  offered  by  large  steamboats.  Most  of  the  steam- 
ers that  bring  miners  and  prospectors  from  below 
do  not  now  discharge  their  freight  at  Juneau,  how- 
ever, but  go  straight  to  the  new  port  Dyea  at  the 
head  of  the  canal.  Lynn  Canal  is  the  grandest  fiord 
on    the   coa<t.   which    it   penetrates   for   seventy-five 


Golden  Alaska.  39 

miles.  It  is  then  divided  by  a  long  peninsula  called 
Seduction  Point,  into  two  prongs,  the  western  of 
which  is  called  Chilkat  Inlet,  and  the  eastern  Chil- 
koot.  "It  has  but  few  indentations,  and  the  abrupt 
palisades  of  the  mainland  shores  present  an  unri- 
valled panorama  of  mountains,  glaciers  and  forests, 
with  wonderful  cloud  effects.  Depths  of  430  fath- 
oms have  been  sounded  in  the  canal,  and  the  conti- 
nental range  on  the  east  and  the  White  [Mountains 
on  the  west  rise  to  average  heights  of  6,000  feet, 
with  glaciers  in  every  ravine  and  alcove."  No  Cam- 
eron boundary  line,  which  Canada  would  like  to  es- 
tablish, would  cut  this  fiord  in  two,  and  make  it  use- 
less to  both  countries  in  case  of  quarrel.  The  mag- 
nificent fan-shaped  Davidson  glacier,  here,  is  only 
one  among  hundreds  of  grand  ice  rivers  shedding 
their  bergs  into  its  waters.  At  various  points  sal- 
mon canneries  have  long  been  in  operation;  and  the 
Seward  City  mines  are  only  the  best  among  several 
mineral  locations  of  promise.  A  glance  at  the  map 
will  show  that  this  "canal"  forms  a  straight  continu- 
ation of  Chatham  Strait,  making  a  north  and  south 
passage  nearly  four  hundred  miles  in  length,  which 
is  undoubtedly  the  trough  of  a  departed  glacier. 

Dyea,  the  new  steamer  landing  and  sub-port  of 
entry,  is  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Chilkoot 
or  eastern  branch  of  this  Lynn  Canal,  and  takes  its 


40  Golden  Alaska. 

name  in  bad  modern  spelling,  from  the  long-known 
Taiya  Inlet,  which  is  a  prolongation  inland  for 
twenty  miles  of  the  head  of  the  Chilkoot  Inlet.  It 
should  continue  to  be  spelled  Tiaya.  This  inlet  is 
far  the  better  of  the  two  for  shipping.  Chilkat  Inlet 
being  exposed  to  the  prevalent  and  often  dangerous 
south  wind,  so  that  it  is  regarded  by  navigators  as 
one  of  the  most  dangerous  points  on  the  Alaskan 
coast.  A  Presbyterian  mission  and  government 
school  were  formerly  sustained  at  Haines,  on  Seduc- 
tion Point,  but  were  abandoned  some  years  ago  on 
account  of  Indian  hostility. 

The  Passes. — Three  passes  over  the  mountains 
are  reached  from  these  two  inlets. — Chilkat,  Chil- 
koot and  White. 

Chilkat  Pass  is  that  longest  known  and  formerly 
most  in  vogue.  The  Chilkat  Indians  had  several 
fixed  villages  near  the  head  of  the  inlet,  and  were 
accustomed  to  go  back  and  forth  over  the  moun- 
tains to  trade  with  the  interior  Indians,  whom  they 
would  not  allow  to  come  to  the  coast.  They  thus 
enjoyed  not  only  the  monopoly  of  the  business  of 
carrying  supplies  over  to  the  Yukon  trading  posts 
and  bringing  out  the  furs,  and  more  recently  of  as- 
sisting the  miners,  but  made  huge  profits  as  middle- 
men between  the  Indians  of  the  interior  and  the 
trading  posts  on  the  coast.     They  arc  a  sturdy  race 


Golden  Alaska. 


43 


of  mountaineers,  and  the  most  arrogant,  treacherous 

and  turbulent  of  all  the  northwestern  tribes,  but 
their  day  is  nearly  passed.  The  early  explorers — 
Krause,  Everette  and  others — took  this  pass,  and 
it  was  here  that  E.  J.  Glare  first  tried  (in  T891)  to 
take  pack  horses  across  the  mountains,  and  suc- 
ceeded so  well  as  to  show  the  feasibility  of  that 
method  of  carriage,  which  put  a  check  upon  the 
extortion  and  faithlessness  of  the  Indian  carriers. 
His  account  of  his  adventures  in  making  this  experi- 
ment, over  bogs,  wild  rocky  heights,  snow  fields, 
swift  rivers  and  forest  barriers,  has  been  detailed  in 
The  Century  Magazine  for  1892,  and  should  be  read 
by  all  interested.  "No  matter  how  important  your 
mission,"  Mr.  Glave  wrote,  ''your  Indian  carriers, 
though  they  have  duly  contracted  to  accompany 
you,  will  delay  your  departure  till  it  suits  their  con- 
venience, and  any  exhibition  of  impatience  on  vour 
part  will  only  remind  them  of  your  utter  depen- 
dency on  them;  and  then  intrigue  for  increase  of 
pay  will  at  once  begin.  While  en  route  they  will 
prolong  the  journey  by  camping  on  the  trail  for  two 
or  three  weeks,  tempted  by  good  hunting  or  fishing. 
In  a  land  where  the  open  season  is  so  short,  and 
the  ways  are  so  long,  such  delay  is  a  tremendous 
drawback.  Often  the  Indians  will  carry  their  loads 
some  part  of  the  way  agreed  on,  then  demand  an 


44  Golden  Alaska. 

extravagant  increase  of  pay  or  a  goodly  share  of  the 
white  man's  stores,  and.  failing  to  get  either,  will 
fling  down  their  packs  and  return  to  their  village, 
leaving  their  white  employer  helplessly  stranded. 

The  usual  charge  for  Indian  carriers  is  $2  a  day 
and  board,  and  they  demand  the  best  fare  and  a 
great  deal  of  it.  so  that  the  white  man  finds  his  pre- 
cious stores  largely  wasted  before  reaching  his  des- 
tination. These  facts  are  mentioned,  not  because  it  is 
now  necessary  to  endure  this  extortion  and  expense, 
but  to  show  how  little  dependence  can  be  placed 
upon  the  hope  of  securing  the  aid  of  Indian  packers 
in  carrying  the  goods  of  prospectors  or  explorers 
elsewhere  in  the  interior,  and  the  great  expense  in- 
volved. This  pass  descends  to  a  series  of  connected 
lakes  leading  down  to  Lake  Labarge  and  thence  by 
another  stream  to  the  Lewes:  and  it  requires  twelve 
days  of  pack-carrying — far  more  than  is  necessary 
on  the  other  passes.  As  a  consequence,  this  pass  is 
now  rarely  used  except  by  Indians  going  to  the  Ak- 
sekh  river  and  the  coast  ranges  northward. 

Chilkoot.  Taiya  or  Parrier  Pass.- — This  is  the 
pass  that  has  been  used  since  T885  by  the  min- 
ers and  others  on  the  upper  Yukon,  and  is  still 
a  route  of  travel.  It  starts  from  the  head  of 
canoe  navigation  on  Taiya  inlet,  and  follows  up  a 
stream  vallev,  craduallv  leading  to  the  divide,  which 


Golden  Alaska.  45 

is  only  3,500  feet  above  the  sea.  The  first  day's 
march  is  to  the  foot  of  the  ascent,  and  over  a  terrible 
trail,  through  heavy  woods  and  along  a  steep,  rocky 
and  often  boggy  hillside,  broken  by  several  deep 
gullies.  The  ascent  is  then  very  abrupt  and  over 
huge  masses  of  fallen  rock  or  steep  slippery  surfaces 
of  rock  in  place.  At  the  actual  summit,  which  for 
seven  or  eight  miles  is  bare  of  trees  or  bushes,  the 
trail  leads  through  a  narrow  rocky  gap,  and  the 
whole  scene  is  one  of  the  most  complete  desolation. 
Xaked  granite  rocks,  rising  steeply  to  partly  snow- 
clad  mountains  on  either  side.  Descending  the  in- 
land or  north  slope  is  equally  bad  traveling,  largely 
over  wide  areas  of  shattered  rocks  where  the  trail 
may  easily  be  lost.  The  further  valley  contains  sev- 
eral little  lakes  and  leads  roughly  down  to  Lake 
Lindeman.  The  distance  from  Taiya  is  twenty-three 
and  a  half  miles,  and  it  is  usually  made  in  two  days. 
Miners  sometimes  cross  this  pass  in  April,  choos- 
ing fine  weather,  and  then  continue  down  the  lakes 
on  the  ice  to  some  point  where  they  can  conveni- 
ently camp  and  wait  for  the  opening  of  navigation 
on  the  Yukon;  ordinarily  it  is  unsafe  to  attempt  a 
return  in  the  autumn  later  than  the  first  of  October. 
Lake  Lindeman  is  a  long  narrow  piece  of  water 
navigable  for  boats  to  its  foot,  where  a  very  bad  river 
passage  leads  into  the  larger  Lake  Bennett,  where 


4'»  Golden  Alaska. 

the  navigation  of  the  Yukon  really  begins. 
"The  Chilkoot  Pass,"  writes  one  of  its  latest  trav- 
elers, '"is  difficult,  even  dangerous,  to  those  not  pos- 
sessed of  steady  nerves.  Toward  the  summit  there  is 
a  sheer  ascent  of  1.000  feet,  where  a  slip  would  cer- 
tainly be  fatal.  At  this  point  a  dense  mist  overtook 
us.  but  we  reached  Lake  Lindeman — the  first  of  a 
series  of  five  lakes — in  safety,  after  a  fatiguing  tramp 

:'  fourteen  consecutive  hours  through  half-melted 
snow.  Here  we  had  to  build  our  own  boat,  first 
felling  the  timber  for  the  purpose.  The  journey 
down  the  lakes  occupied  ten  days,  four  of  which 
were  passed  in  camp  on  Lake  Bennett,  during  a  vio- 
lent storm,  which  raised  a  heavy  sea.  The  rapids 
followed.  One  oi  these  latter,  the  "Grand  Canyon." 
is  a  mile  long,  and  dashes  through  walls  of  rock 
from  50  to  too  feet  high:  six  miles  below  are  the 
"White  Horse  Rapids."  a  name  which  many  fatal 
accidents  have  converted  into  the  "Miner's  Grave." 
But  snags  and  rocks  are  everywhere  a  fruitful  source 

:'  langer  on  thus  river,  and  from  this  rapid  down- 
ward scarcely  a  day  passed  that  one  did  not  see  some 
cairn  or  wooden  cross  marking  the  last  resting  place 
of  some  '.:'  wne  '.  [  ".grim  to  the  land  of  gold.  The 
is  a  '  rief  sketch  of  the  troubles  that  beset  the 
Alaskan  gold  prospector — troubles  that,  although 
unknown  in  the  eastern  states  and  Canada,  have  for 


( ioLDi-.x  Alaska.  49 

many  years  past  associated  the  name  of  Yukon  with 
an  ugly  sound  in  western  America." 

It  is  probable  that  few  if  any  persons  need  go  over 
this  pass  next  year,  and  its  hardships  will  become  a 
tradition  instead  of  a  terrible  prospect. 

White  Pass. — This  pass  lies  south  of  the  Chil- 
koot,  and  leaves  the  coast  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Shagway  river,  five  miles  south  of  Dyea  and  100 
from  Juneau.  It  was  first  explored  in  1887  and  was 
found  to  run  parallel  to  the  Chilkoot.  The  distance 
from  the  coast  to  the  summit  is  seventeen  miles,  of 
which  the  first  five  are  in  level  bottom  land,  thickly 
timbered.  The  next  nine  miles  are  in  a  canon-like 
valley,  beyond  which  three  miles,  comparatively 
easy,  take  one  to  the  summit,  the  altitude  of  which 
is  roughly  estimated  at  2,600  feet.  Beyond  the  sum- 
mit a  wide  valley  is  entered  and  leads  gradually  to 
the  Tahko  arm  of  Tahgish  lake.  This  pass,  though 
requiring  a  longer  carriage,  is  lower  and  easier  than 
the  others,  and  already  a  pack-trail  has  been  built 
through  it  which  will  soon  be  followed  by  a  wagon 
road,  and  surveys  for  a  narrow  guage  railway  are 
in  progress.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Shkagway  River 
ocean  steamers  can  run  up  at  all  times  to  a  wharf 
which  has  been  constructed  in  a  sheltered  position, 
and  there  is  an  excellent  town  site  with  protection 
from  storms. 


50  Golden  Alaska. 

An  English  company,  the  British  Columbia  De- 
velopment Association,  Limited,  has  already  estab- 
lished a  landing-  wharf  and  is  erecting-  a  wharf  and 
sawmills  at  Skagway,  whence  it  is  proposed  (as  soon 
as  feasible)  to  lay  down  a  line  of  rail  some  thirty- 
five  miles  long,  striking  the  Yukon  River  at  a  branch 
of  the  Marsh  Lake,  about  ioo  miles  below  Lake  Lin- 
demann.  By  this  means  the  tedious  and  difficult 
navigation  between  these  two  points  will  be  avoided. 
and  the  only  dangerous  parts  of  the  river  below  will 
be  circumvented  by  a  road  or  rail  portage.  Light- 
draught  steamers  will  be  put  on  from  Teslin  Lake  to 
the  canon  and  from  the  foot  of  the  latter  to  all  the 
towns  and  camps  on  the  river. 

Dyea  is  a  village  of  cabins  and  tents,  and  little  if 
anything  in  the  way  of  supplies  can  be  got  there; 
it  is  a  mere  forwarding  point. 

Pending  the  completion  of  the  facilities  mentioned 
above,  miners  may  transport  their  goods  over  the 
pack  trail  on  their  own  or  hired  burros,  and  at  Tah- 
gish  Lake  take  a  boat  down  the  Tahco  arm  (1  i  miles) 
to  the  main  lake,  and  down  that  lake  and  its  outlet 
into  Lake  Marsh.  This  chain  of  lakes,  filling  the 
troughs  of  old  glacial  fiords  to  a  level  of  -'.150  feet 
above  the  sea,  "constitutes  a  singularly  picturesque 
region,  abounding  in  striking  points  of  view  and  in 
landscapes  pleasing  in  their  variety  or  grand  and  im- 


Golden  Alaska.  51 

pressive  in  this  combination  of  rugged  mountain 
forms."  All  afford  still-water  navigation,  and  as  soon 
as  the  road  through  White  Pass  permits  the  trans- 
portation of  machinery,  they  will  doubtless  be  well 
supplied  with  steamboats.  Marsh  Lake  is  20  miles 
long,  Bennett  26,  and  Tagish  16^  miles,  with  Windy 
Arm  11  miles  long,  Tahko  Arm  20  miles,  and  other 
long,  narrow  extensions  among  the  terraced,  ever- 
green-wooded hills  that  border  its  tranquil  surface. 
The  depression  in  which  this  group  of  lakes  lies  is 
between  the  coast  range  and  the  main  range  of  the 
Rockies;  and  as  it  is  sheltered  from  the  wet  sea- 
winds  by  the  former  heights,  its  climate  is  nearly  as 
dry  of  that  of  the  interior.  The  banks  are  fairly  well 
timbered,  though  large  open  spaces  exist,  and 
abound  in  herbage,  grass  and  edible  berries.  Lake 
Marsh,  named  by  Schwatka  after  Prof.  O.  C.  Marsh 
of  Yale,  but  called  Mud  Lake  by  the  miners,  without 
good  reason,  is  twenty  miles  long  and  about  two 
wide.  It  is  rather  shallow  and  the  left  bank  should 
be  followed.  The  surrounding  region  is  rather  low, 
rising  by  terraces  to  high  ranges  on  each  side,  where 
Michie  mountain,  5,540  feet  in  height,  eastward,  and 
Mounts  Lome  and  Landsdowne,  westward,  6,400 
and  6,140  feet  high  respectively,  are  the  most  prom- 
inent peaks.  "The  diversified  form  of  the  moun- 
tains in  view  from  this  lake  render  it  particularly 


5_>  Golden  Alaska. 

picturesque,"  remarks  Dr.  Dawson,  "and  at  the  time 
of  our  visit,  on  the  10th  and  i  ith  of  September,  the 
autumn  tints  of  the  aspens  and  other  deciduous  trees 
and  shrubs,  mingled  with  the  sombre  greens  of  the 
spruces  and  pines,  added  to  its  beaut}'." 

Xear  the  foot  of  this  lake  enters  the  McClintock 
river,  of  which  little  is  known.  The  oulet  is  a  clear, 
narrow,  quiet  stream,  called  Fifty-mile  River,  which 
flows  somewhat  westerly  down  the  great  valley. 
Large  numbers  of  dead  and  dying  salmon  are  al- 
ways seen  here  in  summer,  and  as  these  fish  never 
reach  Lake  Marsh,  it  is  evident  that  the  few  who  are 
able,  after  their  long  journey,  to  struggle  up  the 
rapids,  have  not  strength  left  to  survive. 

The  descent  of  the  Lewes  (or  "\  ukon")  may  be  said 
to  begin  at  this  point,  and  23  miles  below  Lake 
Marsh  the  first  and  most  serious  obstacle  is  encoun- 
tered in  the  White  Horse  Rapids,  and  Miles  Canon. 
Their  length  together  is  27  miles,  and  they  seem  to 
have  been  caused  by  a  small  local  effusion  of  lava, 
which  was  most  unfortunately  ejected  right  in  the 
path  of  the  river,  The  canon  is  often  not  more  than 
ioc  feet  in  width,  and  although  parts  of  it  may  be 
run  at  favorable  times,  all  of  it  is  dangerous,  and 
the  White  Horse  should  never  be  attempted.  The 
portage  path  in  the  upper  part  of  the  canon  is  on 
die  east   bank,  and   is  about   five-eighths  of  a  mile 


Golden  Alaska.  55 

long.  There  a  stretch  of  navigation  is  possible,  with 
caution,  ending  at  the  head  of  White  Horse  Rapids, 
where  one  must  land  on  the  west  bank,  which  con- 
sists of  steep  rocks,  very  awkward  for  managing  a 
boat  from  or  earning  a  burden  over.  Usually  the 
empty  boat  can  be  dropped  down  with  a  line,  but 
when  the  water  is  high  boat  as  well  as  cargo  must 
be  carried  for  100  yards  or  more,  and  again,  lower 
down,  for  a  less  distance.  The  miners  have  put 
down  rollways  along  a  roughly  constructed  road 
here  to  make  the  portage  of  the  boats  easier,  and 
some  windlasses  for  hauling  the  boats  along  the 
water  or  out  and  into  it.  It  would  be  possible  to 
build  a  good  road  or  tramway  along  the  east  bank 
of  these  rapids  without  great  difficulty;  and  plans 
are  already  formulated  for  a  railway  to  be  built 
around  the  whole  three  miles  of  obstruction,  in  the 
summer  of  1898.  to  connect  with  the  steamboats 
above  and  below  that  will  no  doubt  be  running  next 
year. 

The  river  below  the  rapids  is  fast  (about  four 
miles  an  hour)  for  a  few  miles,  and  many  gravel 
banks  appear.  It  gradually  subsides,  however,  into 
a  quiet  stream  flowing  northwest  along  the  same 
wide  valley.  Xo  rock  is  seen  here,  the  banks  being 
bluffs  of  white  silt,  which  turns  the  clear  blue  of  the 
current   above   into   a   cloudy   and   opaque   yellow. 


;fi  <  .<  >u>i:\   Alaska. 

irteen  inik'S  i  measuring,  as  usual,  along-  the 
rivi-rj  brings  the  vovager  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tah- 
Keena,  a  turbid  stream  about  75  yards  wide  and  10 
it!  deep,  whieh  comes  in  from  the  west.  Its  sour- 
ce- ari1  ai  the  '  kj1  of  the  Chiikat  Pass,  where  it  flows 
t tin  nf  Wot  Kussoa  lake  (afterwards  named  Lake 
\rkell  .  and  was  formerly  much  employed  by  the 
1  'hilk;  '  hi  Hans  as  a  means  of  reaching  the  interior, 
;  ui  was  never  in  favor  with  the  miners,  ami  is  now 
rarely  followed  by  the  Indians  themselves,  although 
it.-  navigation  from  the  lake  down  is  reported  to  be 

'  as.N  ■ 

i  .li  veil  and  a  half  miles  of  quiet  boating  takes  one 

•   1  the  head  of  Lake  Labarge.     This  lake  is  31   miles 

lii  -  uearh   north  and  south,  and  is  irregularly 

gated,   reaching  a   width   of  six   miles   near  the 

lower  i-nd.      li   is  2,100  feet  above  sea  level  and  is 

'.    everywhere   by    mountain.-,   those   on    the 

-onth    having    remarkably    abrupt    and    castellated 

-   and    carrying   summits    of    white    limestone. 

b   '■■    ■    r;     -tormy  one.  and  traveler-  often 

a\'e  '  '  wail  ;;:;;;.  for  several  davs  on  its  shores 

permits  them  to  go  on.     This 

r:\er  va!le\    ;-  a  great  trough  sucking  inland 

hng  -outln  rl\    -umnur  wind-,  and  naviga- 

-  i-  Iikeb    ti  1  be  r<  mgh  for  .-mall 


Golden  Alaska.  57 

The  river  below   Lake  Labarge  is  crooked,  and 

at  first  rapid — six  miles  or  more  an  hour,  and  in- 
terrupted by  boulders;  but  it  is  believed  that  a  stern 
wheel  steamer  of  proper  power  could  ascend  at  all 
times.  The  banks  are  earthen,  but  little  worn,  as 
floods  do  not  seem  to  occur.  Twenty-seven  miles 
takes  one  to  the  mouth  of  a  large  tributary  from  the 
southeast, — the  Teslintoo,  which  Schwatka  called 
Newberry  River,  and  which  the  miners  mistakenly 
call  Hotalinqu.  It  comes  from  the  great  Lake 
Teslin,  which  lies  across  the  British  Columbia  boun- 
dary (Lat.  62  deg.),'and  is  said  to  be  100  miles  long; 
and  it  is  further  said  that  an  Indian  trail  connects  it 
with  the  head  of  canoe  navigation  on  the  Taku 
river,  by  only  two  long  days  of  portaging.  Some 
miners  are  said  to  have  gone  over  it  in  1876  or  'jj, 
Schwatka  and  Hayes  came  this  way;  and  it  may 
form  one  of  the  routes  of  the  future, — perhaps  even 
a  railway  route.  This  river  flows  through  a  wide 
and  somewhat  arid  valley,  and  was  roughly  pros- 
pected about  1887  by  men  who  reported  finding 
fine  gold  all  along  its  course,  and  also  in  tributaries 
of  the  lake.  As  the  mountains  about  the  head  of 
the  lake  belong  to  the  Cassiar  range,  upon  whose 
southern  slopes  the  Cassiar  mines  are  situated,  there 
is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  gold  will  ultimately 
be  found  there  in  paying  quantities. 


^8  <  lOLDEN    A  LASKA. 

I  his  pari  of  the  Lewes  i?  called  Thirty-mile  River, 
under  the  impression  that  it  is  really  a  tributary  of 
the  Teslintoo.  which  is.  in  fact,  wider  than  the 
Lewes  at  the  junction  (Teslintoo,  width  575  feet; 
Lewes,  420  fecth  but  it  carries  far  less  water.  From 
this  confluence  the  course  is  north,  in  a  deep,  swift, 
somewhat  turbid  current,  through  the  crooked  de- 
files of  the  Seminow  hills.  Several  auriferous  bars 
have  been  worked  here,  and  some  shore-placers,  in- 
cluding the  rich  Cassiar  bar.  Thirty-one  miles  be- 
low the  Teslintoo  the  Big  Salmon,  or  D'Abbadie 
River,  enter-  from  the  southeast — an  important  river, 
350  feet  wide,  having  clear  blue  water  flowing  deep 
ami  quiet  in  a  stream  navigable  by  steamboats  for 
man}'  miles.  Its  head  is  about  150  miles  away,  not 
far  from  Teslin  Lake,  in  some  -mall  lakes  reached 
by  tlie  salmi  in.  and  surrounded  by  granite  moun- 
tains. Prospectors  have  traced  all  its  course  and 
found  fine  gold  in  many  places. 

1  hirty-four  miles  below  the  Big  Salmon,  west- 
■  'rth-\ve-t.  along  a  comparatively  straight  course, 
carries  the  boatman  to  the  Little  Salmon,  or  Dalv 
River,  where  the  valley  is  so  broad  that  no  mountains 
are  anywhere  in   Mght,  only  lines  of  low  hills  at  a 

listanci    from  the  bank.-.     Five  miles  below  this  river 
the   riwr   make.-   an   abrupt   turn    to   the   southwest 

irouml    Lagk-'-    W-t    rock,  and    18]    miles  beyond 


( ini.DF.x  Alaska.  6i 

that  reaches  the  Xordenskiokl,  a  small,  swift,  clear- 
watered  tributary  from  the  southwest.  The  rocks  of 
all  this  part  of  the  river  show  thin  seams  of  coal, 
and  gold  has  been  found  on  several  bars.  The  cur- 
rent now  flows  nearly  due  north  and  a  dozen  miles 
below  the  Xordenskiokl  carries  one  to  the  second 
and  last  serious  obstruction  to  navigation  in  the 
Rink  rapids,  as  Schwatka  called  them,  or  Five-fin- 
ger, as  they  are  popularly  known,  referring  to  five 
large  masses  of  rock  that  stand  like  towers  in  mid 
channel.  These  other  islands  back  up  the  water  and 
render  its  currents  strong  and  turbulent,  but  will 
offer  little  opposition  to  a  good  steamboat.  Boat- 
men descending  the  river  are  advised  to  hug  the 
right  bank,  and  a  landing  should  be  made  twenty 
yards  above  the  rapids  in  any  eddy,  where  a  heavily 
loaded  boats  should  be  lightened.  The  run  should 
be  made  close  along  the  shore,  and  all  bad  water 
ends  when  the  Little  Rink  Rapids  have  been  passed, 
six  miles  below.  Just  below  the  rapids  the  small 
Tatshun  River  comes  in  from  the  right.  Then  the 
valley  broadens  out,  the  current  quiets  down  and  a 
pleasing  landscape  greets  the  eye  as  bend  after  bend 
is  turned.  A  long  washed  bank  on  the  northeast 
side  is  called  Hoo-clie-koo  Bluff,  and  soon  after 
passing  it  one  finds  himself  in  the  midst  of  the  pretty 
Ingersoll  archipelago,  where  the  river  widens  out 


(}j  ( i<  )i.i)i:x  Alaska. 

and  wanders  among  hundreds  of  islets.  Fiftv-five 
tniles  by  the  river  below  Rink  Rapids,  the  confluence 
of  the  Lewes  and  Felly  is  reached,  and  the  first  sign 
of  civilization  in  the  ruins  of  old  Fort  Selkirk,  with 
such  recent  and  probably  temporary  occupation  as 
circumstances  may  cause.  Before  long,  undoubt- 
edly, a  flourishing  permanent  settlement  will  grow 
up  in  this  favorable  situation. 

The  confluence  here  of  the  Lewes  and  Felly  rivers 
forms  the  Yukon,  which  thenceforth  pursues  an  un- 
interrupted course  of  1,650  miles  to  Behring  Sea. 
The  country  about  the  confluence  is  low.  with  ex- 
tensive terrace  flats  running  back  to  the  bases  of 
rounded  hills  and  ridges.  The  Yukon  below  the 
junction  averages  about  one-quarter  of  a  mile  in 
width,  and  has  an  average  depth  of  about  10  feet, 
with  a  surface  velocity  of  4!  miles  an  hour.  A 
good  many  gravel  bars  occur,  but  no  shifting  sand. 
'1  he  general  course  nearly  to  White  River,  96  miles, 
is  a  little  north  of  west,  and  many  islands  are  seen; 
then  the  river  turns  to  a  nearly  due  north  course, 
maintained  at  Fort  Reliance.  The  White  River  is 
a  powerful  stream,  plunging  down. loaded  with  silt, 
over  ever  shifting  sand  bars.  Its  upper  source  is 
problematical,  but  is  probably  in  the  Alaskan 
Mountains  near  the  head  of  the  Tenana  and  Forty- 
mile  (  'reek. 


Gold  ex  Alaska.  63 

For  the  next  ten  miles  the  river  spreads  ont  to 
more  than  a  mile  wide  and  becomes  a  maze  of  isl- 
ands and  bars,  the  main  channel  being-  along  the 
western  shore,  where  there  is  plenty  of  water.  This 
brings  one  to  Stewart  river,  which  is  the  most  im- 
portant right-hand  tributary  between  the  Felly  and 
the  Porcupine.  It  enters  from  the  east  in  the  middle 
of  a  wide  valley,  and  half  a  mile  above  its  mouth  is 
200  yards  in  width;  the  current  is  slow  and  the  water 
dark  colored.  It  has  been  followed  to  its  headquar- 
ters in  the  main  range  of  the  Rockies,  and  several 
large  branches,  on  some  of  which  there  are  remark- 
able falls,  have  been  traced  to  their  sources  through 
the  forested  and  snowy  hills  where  they  rise.  These 
sources  are  perhaps  200  miles  from  the  mouth,  but 
as  none  of  the  wanderers  were  equipped  with  either 
geographical  knowledge  or  instruments  nothing 
definite  is  known.  Reports  of  traces  of  precious 
metals  have  been  brought  back  from  many  points 
in  the  Stewart  valley,  but  this  information  is  as 
vague  as  the  other  thus  far.  All  reports  agree  that 
a  light  draught  steamboat  could  go  to  the  head  of 
the  Stewart  and  bar  up  its  feeders.  There  is  a  trad- 
ing post  at  its  mouth. 

The  succeeding  125  miles  holds  what  is  at  pres- 
ent the  most  interesting  and  populous  part  of  the 
Yukon  valley.    The  river  varies  from  half  to  three- 


f,_}  (  ,(  II.DKX     A  I.ASKA. 

quarters  i>t  a  mile  wide  ami  is  full  of  islands.  About 
23  mik-  below  Stewart  River  a  large  stream  enters 
fn>m  the  west  called  Sixty-mile  Creek  by  the  miners, 
who  have  had  a  small  winter  camp  and  trading  store 
there  fur  some  years,  and  have  explored  its  course 
for  gold  to  its  rise  in  the  mountains  west  of  the  in- 
ternational boundary.  Every  little  tributary  has  been 
named,  among  them  (going  up),  Charley's  Fork, 
Fdwards  Creek  and  ITawley  Creek,  in  Canada,  and 
them  on  the  American  side  of  the  line,  Gold  Creek, 
Miller  Creek  and  Bed  Ruck  Creek.  The  sand  and 
gravel  of  all  these  have  yielded  fine  gold  and  some 
of  them,  as  Miller  Creek,  have  become  noted  for  their 
richness.  Forty-four  miles  below  Sixty-mile  takes 
1  me  ti )  I  )awsi  hi  ( 'it  \ .  at  the  mouth  1  if  Klondike  River, 
— tlie  center  0;  the  highest  productiveness  and  great- 
est excitement  during  1S07.  when  the  gold  fields  of 
die  interior  of  Alaska  first  attracted  the  attention 
<  :  the  world.  Leaving  to  another  special  chapter  an 
account  of  them,  the  itinerary  may  be  completed  by 
-n_\  in-  that  <  :  mile-  below  the  mouth  of  the  Klon- 
dike :-  fort  Reliance,  an  old  private  trading  post  of 
no  present  importance.  Twelve  and  a  half  miles 
larther  the  Chan-din-du  River  enters  from  the  east, 
and  3/C  below  that  in  the  mouth  of  Forty- mile 
.  or  ('one  Hill  River,  which  until  the  past  year 
-wi-  the  mo-t   important   mining  region   of  the  inte- 


-Golden  Alaska.  67 

rior.  It  took  its  name  from  the  supposition  that  it 
was  40  miles  from  Fort  Reliance,  but  the  true  dis- 
tance is  46  miles.  On  the  south  side  of  the  outlet  of 
this  stream  is  the  old  trading  post  and  modern  town 
of  Forty-Mile,  and  on  the  north  side  the  more  re- 
cent settlement  Cudahy.  Both  towns  are,  of  course, 
on  the  western  bank  of  the  Yukon,  which  is  here 
about  half  a  mile  wide.  Five  miles  below  Cudahy. 
Coal  Creek  comes  in  from  the  east,  and  nearly 
marks  the  Alaskan  boundary,  where  a  narrowed 
part  of  the  river  admits  one  to  United  States  terri- 
tory. Prominent  landmarks  here  are  two  great 
rocks,  named  by  old  timers  Old  Man  rock,  on  the 
west  bank,  and  Old  Woman,  on  the  east  bank,  in 
reference  to  Indian  legends  attached  to  them.  Some- 
twenty  miles  west  of  the  boundary — the  river  now 
having  turned  nearly  due  west  in  its  general  course 
— Seventy-mile,  or  Klevande  Creek,  comes  in  from 
the  south,  and  somewhat  below  it  the  Tat-on-duc 
from  the  north.  It  was  ascended  in  1887  by  Mr. 
Ogilvie,  who  describes  its  lower  valley  as  broad  and 
well  timbered,  but  its  upper  part  flows  through  a 
series  of  magnificent  canons,  one  of  which  half  a 
mile  long,  is  not  more  than  50  feet  wide  with  vertical 
walls  fully  700  feet  in  height.  There  are  said  to  be 
warm  sulphur  springs  along  its  course,  and  the  In- 
dians regard  it  as  one  of  the  best  hunting  fields, 


(,S  ( ini.DK.N   Alaska. 

sheep  being  especially  numerous  on  the  mountains 
in  which  it  heads,  close  by  the  international  boun- 
dary, where  it  is  separated  by  only  a  narrow  divide 
from  Ogilvic  River,  one  of  the  head  streams  of  the 
IVcl  river,  and  also  from  the  head  of  the  Porcupine, 
to  which  there  is  an  Indian  trail.  Hence  the  miners 
call  this  Sheep  River.  The  rocks  along  this  stream 
are  all  sandstones,  limestone  and  conglomerates, 
with  mam  thin  calcite  veins.  Large  and  dense  tim- 
ber prevails,  and  game  is  abundant. 

Ik-low  the  mouth  of  the  Tat-on-due  several  small 
streams  enter,  of  which  the  Kandik  on  the  north 
and  the  Kolto  or  Charley's  River — at  the  mouth  of 
which  there  used  to  be  the  home  of  an  old  Indian 
notability  named  Charley — are  most  important. 
About  1 60  miles  from  the  boundary  the  Yukon  flats 
are  reached,  and  the  center  of  another  important 
mining  district — that  of  Rirch  Creek  and  the  Upper 
Tenana — at  Circle  City,  the  usual  terminus  of  the 
trip  tip  the  Lower  Yukon  from  St    Michael. 


Gulden  Alaska.  69 

HISTORY  AND  CHARACTERISTICS  OF 
THE  UPPER  YUKON  VALLEY. 

The;  sources  of  the  Yukon  are  just  within  the 
northern  boundary  of  British  Columbia  (Lat.  62 
cleg.)  among  a  mass  of  mountains  forming  a  part 
of  the  great  uplift  of  the  Coast  range,  continuous 
with  the  Sierras  of  California  and  the  Puget  Sound 
coast.  Here  spring  the  sources  of  the  Stikeen,  flow- 
ing southwest  to  the  Pacific,  of  the  Fraser,  flowing 
south  through  British  Columbia,  and  of  the  Liard 
flowing  northeasterly  to  the  Mackenzie.  Headwa- 
ters of  the  Stikeen  and  rJard  interlock,  indeed, 
along  an  extensive  or  sinuous  watershed  having  an 
elevation  of  3,000  feet  or  less  and  extending  east  and 
west.  There  are,  however,  many  wide  and  com- 
paratively level  bottom  lands  scattered  throughout 
this  region  and  numerous  lakes.  The  coast  ranges 
here  have  an  average  width  of  about  eighty  miles 
and  border  the  continent  as  far  north  as  Lynn 
Canal,  where  they  trend  inland  behind  the  St.  Elias 
Alps.  Many  of  their  peaks  exceed  8,000  feet  in 
height,  but  few  districts  have  been  explored  west. 
Eastward  of  this  mountain  axis,  and  separated 
from  it  by  the  valleys  of  the  Fraser  and  Columbia 
in  the  south  and  the  Yukon  northward,  is  the  Con- 


-(l  i  K  >Li)i:x  Alaska. 

tinental  Divide,  or  Rocky  .Mountains  proper,  which 
is  broken  through  (as  noted  above)  by  the  Laird, 
but  north  of  that  canon-bound  river  forms  the 
watershed  between  the  Liard  and  Yukon  and  be- 
tween the  Yukon  and  Mackenzie.  These  summits 
attain  a  height  of  7.000  to  9,000  feet,  and  rise  from 
a  very  complicated  series  of  ranges  extending  north- 
ward to  the  Arctic  (  »cean,  and  very  little  explored. 
The  valley  of  the  Yukon,  then,  lies  between  the 
Kock_\  Mountain-,  separating  its  drainage  basin 
from  that  of  the  Mackenzie,  and  the  Coast  range 
and  St.  Klias  Alps  separating  it  from  the  sea.  Gran- 
ite is  the  principal  rock  in  both  these  great  lines  of 
watershed-uplift,  and  all  the  mountains  show  the  ef- 
fects of  an  extensive  glaciation,  and  all  the  higher 
peaks  still  bear  local  remnants  of  the  ancient  ice- 
sheet. 

The  headwaters  of  the  great  river  are  gathered 
into  three  principal  streams.  First,  the  Lewes,  east- 
ernmost, with  its  large  tributaries,  the  Teslintoo  and 
I'.ig  Salmon;  second,  the  bell}',  with  its  great  west- 
ern tributary,  the  MacMillon. 

I  he    Lewes    River   has    been    described.      It    was 

An  to  the  fur  traders  as  early  as   1840,  and  the 

1  lulkat  and  Chilkoot  passes  were  occasionallv  used 

their    Indian   couriers   from  that  time  on.     The 

M  fields  in   british  Columbia  from   1863  onwards 


SCENfc    IN    JUNEAU  ■- MOUNTAINS    AND    INDIAN    HOUbES. 


Golden  Alaska.  73 

stimulated  prospecting  in  the  northern  and  coastal 
parts  of  that  province,  and  in  1872  prospectors 
reached  the  actual  headwaters  of  the  Lewes  from  the 
south,  but  were  probably  not  aware  of  it;  and  that 
country  was  not  scientifically  examined  until  the  re- 
connoisance  of  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson  in  1887.  In  :S66 
Ketchum  and  La  Barge,  of  the  Western  Union  Tel- 
egraph survey,  ascended  the  Lewes  as  far  as  the 
lakes  still  called  Ketchum  and  La  Barge.  In  1883 
Lieut.  Frederick  Schwatka,  LA  S.  A.,  and  an  assis- 
tant named  Hayes,  and  several  Indians,  made  their 
way  across  from  Taka  inlet  to  the  head  of  Tahgish 
(a  Tako)  Lake,  and  descended  the  Lewes  on  a  raft 
to  Fort  Selkirk,  studying  and  naming  the  valley. 
From  Fort  Selkirk  an  entirely  new  route  was  fol- 
lowed toward  the  mountains  forming  the  divide  be- 
tween the  Yukon  and  the  White  and  Copper  rivers, 
which  flow  to  the  Gulf  of  Alaska,  north  of  Mt.  St. 
Flias.  After  discovering  a  pass  little  more  than 
5,000  feet  high,  they  struck  the  Chityna  River  and 
followed  that  to  the  Copper  River  and  thence  to  the 
coast.  The  Copper  River  Valley  was  thoroughly  ex- 
plored somewhat  later  by  Lieuts.  Abercrombie  and 
Allen,  LA  S.  A.,  who  added  greatly  to  knowledge 
of  that  large  river,  which,  however,  seems  to  have 
no  good  harbor  at  its  mouth.  The  miners  began  to 
use  the  Chilkoot  Pass  and  the  Lewes  River  route  to 


"■} 


'  ':<  H.i)K\    A  I.A5KA. 


the  Yukon  district  in  1SS4.  Some  additions  were 
made  tu  geography  in  this  region  by  an  exploring 
expedition  despatched  to  Alaska  in  1890  by  Frank 
Leslie's  Weekly,  under  Messrs.  A.  J.  Wells,,  E.  J. 
Cllave  and  A.  Ik  Schanz.  They  entered  by  way  of 
C'hilkat  pass  and  came  to  a  large  lake  at  the  head 
of  the  Tah-keena  tributary  of  the  Lewes,  which  they 
named  Lake  Arkell,  though  it  was  probably  the 
same  ear!;  r  described  by  the  Drs.  Krause.  Here 
Mr.  (Have  left  die  party  and  striking  across  the  coast 
range  southward  discovered  the  headwaters  of  the 
Alsekh  and  descended  to  Dry  Bay.  At  Forty-mile 
creek-  Mr.  Wells  and  a  part}'  crossed  over  into  the 
basin  1  if  the  Tanana  and  increased  the  knowledge  of 
that  river.  Mr.  Schanz  went  down  the  Yukon 
and  explored  the  lower  region.  In  1892  Mr.  Glave 
again  went  to  .Alaska,  demonstrated  the  possibility 
of  taking  pack  horses  over  the  Chilkat  trail,  and 
with  an  aid  named  Dalton  made  an  extensive  jour- 
ik-\  southward  along  the  crest  of  the  watershed  be- 
'1  ■  Yuki  hi  valley  and  the  coast. 
I  urnii  ^  now  to  the  Lelly,  we  find  that  this  was 
arli   si  avenue  of  discovery.     The  IVlly  rises  in 

-  under  die  62nd  parallel,  just  over  a  divide  from 
'die    1  inlay  sou   and    Frances    Lake,  the   head  of  the 

i><  -  River,  the  northern  source  of  the  Liard,and 
■     -   entered  bv  the    Hudson    Bav   Com- 


Golden  Alaska.  75 

pany  as  early  as  1834,  and  gradually  exploring  the 
LairdRiver  and  its  tributaries,  in  1840  Robert  Cam- 
bell  crossed  over  the  divide  north  of  Lake  Finlay- 
son  (at  the  head  of  the  Frances),  and  discovered  (at 
a  place  called  Felly  Banks)  a  large  river  flowing 
northwest  which  he  named  Felly.  In  1843  ne  de- 
scended the  river  to  its  confluence  with  the  Lewes 
(which  he  then  named),  and  in  1848  he  built  a  post 
for  the  H.  B.  Company  at  that  point,  calling  it  Fort 
Selkirk.  This  done,  in  1850,  Campbell  floated  down 
the  river  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Porcupine, 
where  three  years  previously  (1847)  Fort  Yukon  had 
been  established  by  Air.  Murray,  who  (founded  by 
James  Bell  in  1842)  crossed  over  from  the  mouth 
of  the  Mackenzie.  The  Yukon  may  thus.be  said 
to  have  been  '"discovered"  at  several  points  inde- 
pendently. The  Russians,  who  knew  it  only  at  the 
mouth,  called  it  Kwikhpak,  after  an  Eskimo  name. 
The  English  at  Fort  Yukon,  learned  that  name  from 
the  Indians  there,  and  the  upper  river  was  the  Felly. 
The  English  and  Russian  traders  soon  met,  and 
when  Campbell  came  down  in  1850  the  identity  of 
the  whole  stream  was  established.  The  name  Yu- 
kon gradually  took  the  place  of  all  others  on  English 
maps  and  is  now  recognized  for  the  whole  stream 
from  the  junction  of  the  Lewes  and  Felly  to  the 
delta. 


-()  ( i(  )i  pkx    A  I.ASKA. 

The  Yukon  basin,  east  of  the  Alaskan  boundary. 
is  known  in  Canada  as  the  Yukon  district,  and  con- 
tains about  150.000  square  miles.  This  is  nearly 
equal  to  the  ana  of  France,  is  greater  than  that  of 
the  I'nited  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
b\  71,000  square  miles,  and  nearly  three  times  big- 
ger than  that  of  the  \*ew  England  states.  To  this 
must  be  added  an  area  of  about  180,000  square 
mile-,  west  of  the  boundary,  drained  by  the  Yukon 
upon  it-  wa\  to  the  sea  through  Alaska.  Neverthe- 
less Dr.  (  i.  M.  Dawson  and  other  students  of  the 
matter  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  river  does  not  dis- 
charge as  much  water  as  does  the  Mackenzie — nor 
could  it  be  expected  to  do  so,  since  the  drainage 
area  of  the  Mackenzie  is  more  than  double  that  of 
the  Yukon,  while  the  average  annual  precipitation 
of  rain  over  the  two  areas  seems  to  be  substantially 
similar.  Remembering  these  figures  and  that  the 
basin  of  the  Mississippi  has  no  less  than  1,225,000 
xjuare  miles  as  compared  with  the  330,000  square 
miles  of  the  Yukon  basin,  it  is  plain  that  the  state- 
ment often  heard  that  the  Yukon  is  next  to  the 
;sippi  in  size,  is  greatly  exaggerated.  In  fact, 
-  proportions,  from  all  points  of  view,  are  exceeded 
those  of  the  Xile.  Ganges.  St.  Lawrence  and 
-everal  other  rivers  of  considerably  less  importance 
the  Mississippi. 


Golden  Alaska.  79 

Resuming  the  historical  outline,  a  short  paragraph 
will  suffice  to  complete  the  simple  story  down  to 
the  year  1896. 

Robert  Campbell  had  scarcely  returned  from  his 
river  voyage  to  his  duties  at  Fort  Selkirk,  when 
he  discovered  that  its  location  in  the  angle  between 
the  rivers  was  untenable,  owing  to  ice-jams  and 
floods.  The  station  was  therefore  moved,  in  the  sea- 
son of  1852  across  to  the  west  bank  of  the  Yukon, 
a  short  distance  below  the  confluence,  and  new 
buildings  were  erected.  These  had  scarcely  been 
completely,  when,  on  August  1st,  a  band  of  Chilkat 
Indians  from  the  coast  came  down  the  river  and 
early  in  the  morning  seized  upon  the  post,  surpris- 
ing Mr.  Campbell  in  bed.  and  ordered  him  to  take 
his  departure  before  night.  They  were  not  at  all 
rough  with  him  or  his  few  men,  but  simply  insisted 
that  they  depart,  which  they  did,  taking  such  per- 
sonal luggage  as  they  could  put  into  a  boat  and 
starting  down  stream.  The  Indians  then  pillaged  the 
place,  and  after  feasting  on  all  they  could  eat  and 
appropriating  what  they  could  carry  away,  set  fire- 
to  the  remainder  and  burned  the  whole  place  to  the 
ground.  One  chimney  still  stands  to  mark  the  spot, 
and  others  lie  where  they  fell.  This  act  was  not 
dictated  by  wanton  destructiveness  on  the  part  of 
the   Chilkats — bad  as  they  undoubtedlv  were    and 


8o  Golden  Alaska. 

arc;  hut  was  in  pursuance  of  a  theory.  The  estab- 
lishment  of  the  post  there  interfered  with  the  monop- 
oly of  trade  that  they  had  enjoyed  theretofore,  with 
all  the  Indians  of  the  interior,  to  whom  they  brought 
salable  goods  from  the  coast,  taking  in  exchange 
furs,  copper,  etc.,  at  an  exhorbitant  profit,  which 
thev  enforced  bv  their  superior  brutality.  The  Hud- 
son 15av  Company  was  robbing  them  of  this,  hence 
the  demolition  of  the  post,  which  was  too  remote 
to  be  profitably  sustained  against  such  opposition. 
A  little  way  down  the  river.  Mr.  Campbell  met  a 
fleet  of  boats  bringing  up  his  season's  goods,  and 
many  friendly  Indians.  These  were  eager  to  pursue 
the  robbers,  but  Campbell  thought  it  best  not  to  do 
so.  He  turned  the  supply-boats  back  to  Fort  Yukon 
and  led  his  own  men  up  the  Polly  and  over  the  pass 
to  the  Frances  and  so  down  the  Liard  to  Fort  Simp- 
son, on  the  Mackenzie.  Such  is  the  story  of  the 
ruins  of  Fort  Selkirk.  Fort  Yukon  flourished  as  the 
only  trading  post  until  the  purchase  of  Alaska  by 
the  I  nited  States,  when  Captain  Raymond,  an  arm}' 
officer,  was  sent  to  inform  the  factor  there  that  his 
post  was  on  I  nited  States  territory,  and  require 
him  to  leave.  1  le  did  so  as  won  as  Rampart  House 
could  be  built  to  take  its  place  up  the  Porcupine. 
Old  Fort  Yukon  then  fell  into  ruins,  and  Rampart 
House  itself  was  soon  abandoned.     In  1873  an  op- 


Golden  Alaska.  8i 

position  appeared  in  the  independent  trading  house 
of  Harper  &  McQuestion,  men  who  had  come  into 
the  country  from  the  south,  after  long  experience 
in  the  fur  trade.  They  had  posts  at  various  points, 
occupied  Fort  Reliance  for  several  years,  and  in 
]SS6  established  a  post  at  the  mouth  of  the  Stewart 
River  for  the  miners  who  had  begun  to  gather  there 
two  years  before.  Many  maps  mark  ''Reed's  House" 
as  a  point  on  the  upper  Stewart,  but  no  such  a 
trading-post  ever  existed  there,  although  there  was 
a  fishing  station  and  shelter-hut  on  one  of  its  upper 
branches  at  an  early  day.  This  firm  became  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  (a 
San  Francisco  corporation)  and  opened  a  store  in 
1887  at  Forty  Mile,  where  they  still  do  business. 

Gold  Discoveries. — The  presence  of  fine  float  gold 
in  river  sands  was  early  discovered  by  the  Hudson 
Bay  Company  men,  but  in  accordance  with  the 
former  policy  of  that  company,  no  mining  was  done 
and  as  little  said  about  it  as  possible.  The  rich- 
ness of  the  Cassiar  mines  led  to  some  prospecting 
northward  as  early  as  1872,  and  by  1880  wander- 
ing gold  hunters  had  penetrated  to  the  Testintos, 
where  for  several  years  $8  to  $10  a  da}-  of  fine  gold 
was  sluiced  out  during  the  season  by  the  small  col- 
ony. In  1886  Cassiar  liar,  on  the  Lewes,  below 
there,   was   opened,  and  a   party   of  four   took   out 


X_>  *  m  m.im-.x   Alaska. 

$6,000   in   30   days,    while   other   neighboring    bars 

yielded  fair  wages.  I'y  that  time  Stewart  River  was 
becoming  attractive,  and  many  miners  worked  plac- 
ers there  profitably  in  1X85,  '86  and  'Sy.  During 
the  fall  of  1886  three  or  four  nun  took  the  engines 
out  of  the  little  steamboat  "Xew  Racket,"  which 
was  laid  up  fur  the  winter  there,  and  used  them  to 
drive  a  set  of  pumps  lifting  water  into  sluice-boxes; 
and  with  this  crude  machinery  each  man  cleared 
Si, 000  in  less  than  a  month.  A  judicious  estimate 
is,  that  the  Stewart  River  placers  yielded  $100,000 
in   1885  and  ^6. 

Prospecting  went  on  unremittingly,  but  nothing 
else  was  found  of  promise  until  1886,  when  coarse 
gold  was  reported  upon  Forty  Mile  Creek,  or  the 
Shitando  River,  as  it  was  known  to  the  Indians,  and 
a  local  rush  took-  place  to  its  canons,  the  principal 
attraction  being  Franklin  Gulch,  named  after  its  dis- 
coverer. Three  or  four  hundred  men  gathered  there 
by  the  season  of  1887,  and  all  dad  well.  This  stream 
is  a  'dud-rock'"  creek, — that  is,  one  in  the  bed  of 
which  there  is  very  little  drift;  and  in  many  places 
the  bed-rock  was  scraped  with  knives  to  get  the  lit- 
tle loose  stud  out  of  crannies.  Some  nuggets  were 
found.  At  its  mouth  are  extensive  bars  along  the 
Yukon,  which  carry  gold  throughout  their  depth. 
I  hiring   iSSN  the  season   was  verv  unfavorable  and 


Goldex  Alaska.  85 

not  much  accomplished.  Sixty  Mile  Creek  was 
brought  to  notice,  and  Miller  Gulch  proved  richer 
than  usual.  It  is  one  of  the  headwaters  of  Sixty 
Mile,  and  some  70  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the 
river  where,  in  1892,  a  trading  store,  saw-mill  and 
little  wintering-town  was  begun.  Miller  Creek  is 
about  7  miles  long,  and  its  valley  is  filled  with  vast 
deposits  of  auriferous  drift.  In  1892  rich  strikes 
were  made  and  125  miners  gathered  there,  paying 
$10  a  day  for  help,  and  many  making  fortunes.  One 
clean-up  of  1,100  ounces  was  reported.  Glacier 
Creek,  a  neighboring  stream,  exhibited  equal 
chances  and  drew  many  claimants,  some  of  whom 
migrated  thither  in  mid-winter,  drawing  their  sleds 
through  the  woods  and  rocks  with  the  murcury  30 
degrees  below  zero.  All  of  these  gulches  and  other 
golden  headwaters  on  both  Forty  Mile  and  Sixty 
Mile  Creek,  are  west  of  the  boundary  in  Alaska:  but 
the  mouths  of  the  main  streams  and  supply  points 
are  in  Canadian  territory.  In  all,  the  great  ob- 
stacle is  the  difficulty  of  getting  water  up  on  the 
bars  without  expensive  machinery;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  rich  gravel  along  the  banks  of  the  Yukon 
itself.  Birch  Creek  was  the  next  find  of  import- 
ance, and  was  promising  enough  to  draw  the  larger 
part  of  the  local  population,  which  by  this  time  had 
been  considerably  increased,  for  the  news  of  the  rich- 


86  Golden  Alaska. 

ncss  of  the  Forty  INIile  gulches  had  reached  the  out- 
side world  and  attracted  adventurous  men  and  not 
a  few  women  from  the  coast  not  only,  but  from 
British  Columbia  and  the  United  States.  A  rival  to 
Harper  &  McOuestion,  agents  of  the  Alaska  Com- 
mercial Company,  appeared  in  the  North  American 
Transportation  and  Trading  Company,  which  in- 
creased the  transportation  service  on  the  Yukon 
River,  by  which  most  of  the  new  arrivals  entered, 
and  by  establishing  large  competitive  -tores  at  Fort 
Cudahy  (Forty  Mile)  and  elsewhere  reduced  the 
price  of  food  and  other  necessaries.  About  this 
time,  also,  the  Canadian  government  sent  law  of- 
ficers and  a  detachment  of  mounted  police,  so  that 
the  Yukon  District  began  to  take  a  recognized  place 
in  the  w<  irld. 

Birch  Creek  is  really  a  large  river  rising  in  the 
Iauana  Mills,  just  west  of  the  boundary  and  flowing 
northwest,  parallel  with  the  Yukon,  to  a  debouch- 
ment some  jo  miles  west  of  Fort  Yukon.  Between 
the  two  rivers  lie  the  "Yukon  Flats,"  and  at  one 
p"int  they  are  separated  by  only  six  miles.  Here, 
at  tlie  '\  ukon  end  of  the  road  arose  Circle  City,  so- 
alleil  frum  its  proximity  to  the  Arctic  Circle.  This 
i-  an  orderly  little  town  of  regular  streets,  and  has 
a  n   •   nli  r  ■  :    Funis,  a  st<  »re,  etc. 

Birch  (.reek  has  been   thoroughlv   explored,  and 


Golden  Alaska.  87 

in  1894  yielded  good  results.  The  gold  was  in 
coarse  flakes  and  nuggets,  so  that  $40  a  day  was 
made  by  some  men,  while  all  did  well.  The  drift 
is  not  as  deep  here  as  in  most  other  streams,  and 
water  can  be  applied  more  easily  and  copiously, — 
a  vast  advantage.  Molymute,  Crooked.  Independ- 
ence, Mastadon  and  Preacher  creeks  are  the  most 
noteworthy  tributaries  cf  this  rich  field. 

The  Koyukuk  River,  which  Hows  from  the  bord- 
ers of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  gathering  many  mountain 
tributaries,  to  enter  the  Yukon  at  Xulato,  was  also 
prospected  in  1892,  '93  and  '94,  and  indications  of 
good  placers  have  been  discovered  there,  but  the 
northerly,  exposed  and  remote  situation  has  caused 
them  to  receive  little  attention  thus  far. 


THE  KLONDIKE. 

During  the  autumn  of  1896  several  men  and  wo- 
men, none  of  whom  were  "old  miners,"  discouraged 
by  poor  results  lower  down  the  river  resolved  to 
try  prospecting  in  the  Klondike  gulch.  They  were 
laughed  at  and  argued  with;  were  told  that  prospect- 
ors years  ago  had  been  all  over  that  valley,  and 
found  only  the  despised  "flour  gold,"  which  was  too 
fine  to  pay  for  washing  it  out.  Nevertheless  they 
persisted  and  went  at  work.  Only  a  short  time 
elapsed,  when,  on  one  of  the  lower  southside 
branches  of  the  stream  they  found  pockets  of  flakes 
and  nuggets  of  gold  far  richer  than  anything  Alaska 
had  ever  shown  before.  They  named  the  stream 
Bonanza,  and  a  small  tributary  El  Dorado.  Others 
came  and  nearly  <  veryone  succeeded.  Before  spring 
nearly  a  ton  and  a  half  of  gold  had  been  taken  from 
the  frozen  ground.  Nuggets  weighing  a  pound 
(trnyi  were  found.  A  thousand  dollars  a  day  was 
sometimes  saved  despite  the  rudeness  of  the  methods, 
but  these  things  happened  where  pockets  were 
-truck.  Probably  the  total  clean-up  from  January 
to  June  was  not   less  than  $1,500,000.     The  report 


Golden  Alaska.  91 

spread  and  all  those  in  the  interior  of  Alaska  con- 
centrated there,  where  a  "camp"  of  tents  and  shan- 
ties soon  sprang  up  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klondike 
called  Dawson  City.  A  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Sun  describes  it  as  beautifully  situated,  and 
a  very  quiet,  orderly  town,  due  to  the  strict  super- 
vision of  the  Canadian  mounted  police,  who  allowed 
no  pistols  to  be  carried,  but  a  great  place  for  gam- 
bling with  high  stakes.  It  bids  fair  to  become  the 
mining  metropolis  of  the  northwest,  and  had  about 
3,000  inhabitants  before  the  advance-guard  of  the 
present  "rush"  reached  there. 

Hundreds  of  claims  were  staked  out  and  worked 
in  all  the  little  gulches  opening  along  Bonanza,  El- 
dorado, Hunker,  Bear  and  other  tributaries  of  the 
Klondike,  and  of  Indian  River,  a  stream  thirty  miles 
south  of  it,  and  a  greater  number  seem  to  be  of 
equal  richness  with  those  first  worked.  All  this  is 
within  a  radius  south  and  east  of  20  miles  from  Daw- 
son City,  and  most  of  it  far  nearer.  The  country 
is  rough,  wooded  hills,  and  the  same  trouble  as  to 
water  is  met  there  as  elsewhere,  yet  riches  were  ob- 
tained by  many  men  in  a  few  weeks  without  ex- 
hausting their  claims. 

So  remote  and  shut  in  has  this  region  been  in  the 
winter  that  no  word  of  this  leaked  out  until  the 
river  opened  and  a  party  of  successful  miners  came 


1)2  (  i<  n.iJKN   Alaska. 

down  to  the  eoa.-t  and  took  passage  on  the  steamer 
Rxcelsior  for  San  Francisco.  They  arrived  on 
Tulv  i_j.  and  no  one  suspected  that  there  was  any- 
thing extraordinary  in  the  passenger  list  or  cargo, 
until  a  procession  of  weather  beaten  men  began  a 
march  to  the  Selby  Smelting  works,  and  there  began 
to  open  sacks  of  dust  and  nuggets,  until  the  heap 
made-  something  not  seen  in  San  Francisco  since 
the  days  of  'uj.  The  news  flashed  over  the  world, 
and  aroused  a  fire  <  >:"  interest;  and  when  three  days 
later  the  Portland  came  into  Seattle,  bringing  other 
miner-  and  over  $1,000,000  in  gold,  there  was  a 
rush  to  go  north  which  bids  fair  to  continue  for 
month-  to  come,  for  one  of  the  articles  of  faith  in 
the  creed  of  the  Yukon  miner  is  that  many  other 
gulches  will  be  found  as  rich  as  these.  One  elderly 
man.  who  went  in  late  last  fall  and  with  partners 
took  four  claim-  on  Eldorado  Creek,  told  a  reporter 
that  his  pickings  had  amounted  to  Si  12.000,  and 
that  he  was  confident  that  the  ground  left  was  worth 
S2.000.000  more.  "1  want  to  say."  he  exclaims, 
"that  1  believe  there  is  gold  in  every  creek  in  Alas- 
ka. Certain  on  the  Klondike  the  claims  are  not 
-potted.  One  seems  to  be  as  good  as  another.  Tt's 
gold.  gold,  gold,  all  over.  Tt's  yards  wide  and  deep. 
All  you  have  to  do  is  to  run  a  hole  down." 

One  might  go  on  quoting  such  rhapsodies,  aris- 


Golden  Alaska.  93 

ing  from  success,  to  end  of  the  book,  but  it  is 
needless,  for  every  newspaper  has  been  full  of  them 
for  a  month. 

One  man  and  his  wife  got  $135,000;  another, 
formerly  a  steamboat  deck-hand,  $150,000;  another, 
$115,000;  a  score  or  more  over  $50,000,  and  so  on. 
These  sums  were  savings  after  having  the  heavy  ex- 
penses of  the  winter,  and  most  of  them  had  dug 
out  only  a  small  part  of  their  ground. 

It  is  curious  in  view  of  this  success  to  read  the 
only  descriptive  note  the  present  writer  can  dis- 
cover in  early  writings  as  to  this  gold  river.  It 
occurs  in  Ogilvie's  report  of  his  explorations  of 
1887,  and  is  as  follows:  "Six  and  a  half  miles  above 
Reliance  the  Tou-Dac  River  of  the  Indians  (Deer 
River  of  Schwatka)  enter  from  the  east.  It  is  a 
small  river  about  40  yards  wide  at  the  mouth  and 
shallow;  the  water  is  clear  and  transparent  and  of 
a  beautiful  blue  color.  The  Indians  catch  great 
numbers  of  salmon  here.  A  miner  had  prospected 
up  this  river  for  an  estimated  distance  of  40  miles 
in  the  season  of   1887.     I  did  not  see  him." 


C)4  CiOldkx  .Alaska. 

THE  METHODS  OF  PLACER  MINING 

in  the  Klondike  region  and  elsewhere  along  the 
Yukon  are  different  from  those  pursued  else- 
where, owing  to  the  fact  that  from  a  point 
about  three  feet  below  the  surface  the  ground 
is  permanently  frozen.  The  early  men  tried  to 
strip  off  the  gravel  down  to  the  gold  lying  in  its 
lower  levels  or  beneath,  it,  upon  the  bed  rock,  and 
found  it  exceedingly  slow  and  laborious  work;  more- 
over, it  was  only  during  the  short  summer  that  any 
work  could  be  done.  Now,  by  the  aid  of  fires  they 
sink  shafts  and  then  tunnel  along  the  bed  rock- 
where  the  gold  lies.  A  returned  miner  described 
the  process  as  follows,  pointing  out  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  being  able  to  work  under  ground  during 
the   winter: 

"The  miners  build  fires  over  the  area  where  they 
wish  to  work  and  keep  these  lighted  over  that  terri- 
tory for  the  space  of  twenty-four  hours.  Then  the 
gravel  will  be  melted  and  softened  to  a  depth  of  per- 
haps six  inches.  This  is  then  taken  off  and  other 
fires  are  built  until  the  gold  bearing  layer  is  reached. 
When  thi'  shaft  i-;  down  that  far  other  fires  are  built 
at  the  bottom,  against  the  sides  of  the  layer  and  tun- 
nels  made   in   the  same   manner.      Blasting  will   do 


Golden  Alaska.  97 

no  good,  the  charge  not  cracking  off  but  blowing 
out  of  the  hole.  The  matter  taken  out,  and  contain- 
ing the  gold  is  piled  up  until  spring,  when  the  tor- 
rents come  down,  and  is  panned  and  cradled  by 
these.     It  is  certainly  very  hard  labor." 

Another  quotation  may  be  given  as  a  practical  ex- 
ample of  this  process: 

"The  gold  so  far  as  has  been  taken  from  Bonanza 
and  Eldorado,  both  well  named,  for  the  richness  of 
the  placers  are  truly  marvelous.  Eldorado,  thirty 
miles  long,  is  staked  the  whole  length  and  as  far  as 
worked  has  paid. 

"One  of  our  passengers,  who  is  taking  home 
$100,000  with  him.  has  worked  one  hundred  feet  of 
his  ground  and  refused  $200,000  for  the  remainder, 
and  confidently  expects  to  clean  up  $400,000  and 
more.  He  has  in  a  bottle  $212  from  one  pan  of  dirt. 
His  pay  dirt  while  being  washed  averaged  $250  an 
hour  to  each  man  shoveling  in.  Two  others  of  our 
miners  who  worked  their  own  claim  cleaned  up 
$6,000  from  one  day's  washing. 

"There  is  about  fifteen  feet  of  dirt  above  bed  rock, 
the  pay  streak  averaging  from  four  to  six  feet,  which 
is  tunnelled  out  while  the  ground  is  frozen.  Of 
course,  the  ground  taken  out  is  thawed  by  building 
fires,  and  when  the  thaw  comes  and  water  rushes 
in  thev  set  their  sluices  and  wash  the  dirt.     Two  of 


ijS  Golden*  Alaska. 

our  fellows  thought  a  small  bird  in  the  hand  worth 
a  large  one  in  the  bush,  and  sold  their  claims  for 
$45,000.  getting  84. 500  down,  and  the  remainder  to 
be  paid  in  monthly  installments  of  $10,000  each. 
The  purchaser-  had  no  more  than  $5,000  paid. 
The\'  were  twenty  clays  thawing  and  getting  out  dirt. 
Then  there  was  no  water  to  sluice  with,  but  one 
fellow  made  a  rocker,  and  in  ten  days  took  out  the 
$10,000  for  the  first  installment.  So.  tunnelling  and 
rocking,  they  took  out  $40,000  before  there  was 
water  ti  >  sluice  with." 


LEGAL  ASPECT  OF  ALASKA. 

Commissioner  Hermann,  of  the  General  Land  Of- 
fice, has  announced  that  the  following  laws  of  the 
I  nited  States  extend  over  Alaska,  where  the  general 
land  laws  do  not  apply: 

hirst — The  mineral  land  laws  of  the  United  States. 

Second — Town-site  laws,  which  provide  for  the 
incorporation  of  town-sites  and  acquirement  of  title 
thereto  from  the  (Suited  States  Government  by  the 
town-site   tni>ter>. 


Golden  Alaska.  99 

Third — The  laws  providing  for  trade  and  manu- 
factures, giving  each  qualified  person  160  acres  of 
land  in  a  square  and  compact  form. 

The  coal  land  regulations  are  distinct  from  the 
mineral  regulations  or  laws,  and  as  in  the  case  of 
the  general  land  laws  Alaska  is  expressly  exempt 
from  this  jurisdiction. 

On  the  part  of  Canada,  however,  the  provisions  of 
the  Real  Property  act  of  the  Northwest  Territories 
will  be  extended  to  the  Yukon  country  by  an  order 
in  council,  a  register  will  be  appointed,  and  a  land 
title  office  will  be  established. 

The  act  approved  May  17,  1884,  providing  a  civil 
government  for  Alaska,  has  this  language  as  to 
mines  and  mining  privileges: 

"The  laws  of  the  United  States  relating  to  min- 
ing claims  and  rights  incidental  thereto  shall,  on 
and  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  be  in  full  force 
and  effect  in  said  district  of  Alaska,  subject  to  such 
regulations  as  may  be  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  and  approved  by  the  President,"  and 
"parties  who  have  located  mines  or  mining  priv- 
ileges therein,  under  the  United  States  laws  ap- 
plicable to  the  public  domain,  or  have  occupied  or 
improved  or  exercised  acts  of  ownership  over  such 
claims,  shall  not  be  disturbed  therein,  but  shall  be 
allowed  to  perfect  title  by  payment  so  provided  for." 


<  i(  II.DK.N    A  I.ASKA. 


There  is  still  more  general  authority.  Without 
the  special  authority,  the  act  of  July  4.  1866,  says: 
"All  valuable  mineral  deposits  in  lands  belonging'  to 
the  United  States,  both  surveyed  and  unsurveyed, 
are  hereby  declared  to  be  tree  and  open  to  explora- 
tion and  purchase,  and  lands  in  which  these  are 
found  to  occupation  and  purchase  by  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  by  those  who  have  declared  an 
intention  to  become  such,  under  the  rules  prescribed 
by  law  and  according  to  local  customs  or  rules  of 
miners  in  the  several  mining  districts,  so  far  as  the 
same  are  applicable  and  not  inconsistent  with  the 
laws  of  the  United  States." 

The  patenting  of  mineral  lands  in  Alaska  is  not 
a  new  thing,  for  that  work  has  been  going  on.  as 
the  cases  have  come  in  from  time  to  time,  since 
1884. 

One  of  the  difficulties  that  local  capitalists  find  in 
their  negotiations  for  purchase  of  mining  properties 
on  the  Yukon  is  the  lack  of  authenticated  records 
of  owner-  of  claim-.  Different  practice.-  prevail  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  line  and  cause  more  or  less  con- 
fusion. The  practice  has  been  at  most  of  the  new 
camp-  to  call  a  miners'  meeting  at  which  one  of  the 
parties  was  elected  recorder,  and  he  proceeded  to 
enter  the  bearings  of  -takes  and  natural  marks  to 
define  claim-.     Sometimes  the  recorder  would  cdve 


Golden*  Alask. 


i°3 


a  receipt  for  a  fee  allowed  by  common  consent  for 
recording-,  and  also  keep  a  copy  for  future  reference, 
but  in  a  majority  of  cases  even  this  formality  was 
dispensed  with,  and  the  only  record  kept  was  the 
rough  minutes  made  at  the  time. 

On  the  Canadian  side  a  different  state  of  affairs 
exists.  The  Dominion  Government  has  sent  a  com- 
missioner who  is  empowered  to  report  officially  all 
claims,  and  while  no  certificate  is  issued  to  the  own- 
ers thereof,  properties  are  thoroughly  defined  and 
their  metes  and  bounds  established.  The  commis- 
sioner in  the  Klondike  district,  whose  name  is  Con- 
stantine.  also  exercises  semi-judicial  functions,  and. 
settles  disputes  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  appeal  lying 
to  the  Ottawa  Government. 

As  to  courts  and  the  execution  of  civil  and  criminal 
law  general!}',  none  were  existent  in  the  upper 'Yu- 
kon Valley  on  the  American  side  of  the  line  during 
1897.  The  nearest  United  States  judge  was  at  Sit- 
ka. At  Circle  City  and  other  centers  of  population 
the  people  had  organized  into  a  sort  of  town-meet- 
ing for  the  few  public  matters  required;  and  a  sort 
of  vigilance  committee  took  the  place  of  constituted 
authority  and  police.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
the  people  were  quiet  and  law-abiding  and  little  need 
for  the  machinery  of  law  is  likely  to  arise  before 
courts,  etc.,  are  set  up.     A  movement  toward  send- 


I04 


(  Ioldkx  Alaska. 


mq-  a  garrison  of  United  States  troops  thither  was 
vetoed  by  the  War   Department. 

Canada,  however,  awoke  to  the  realization  that 
her  interests  were  in  jeopard}',  and  took  early  steps 
to  profit  l>v  the  wealth  which  had  been  discovered 
within  her  borders  and  the  international  business 
that  resulted.  Idle  natural  feeling-  among  the  Ca- 
nadians was,  and  is,  that  the  property  belongs  to 
the  Canadian  public,  and  that  no  good  reason  exists 
why  the  mineral  and  other  wealth  should  be  ex- 
hausted at  once,  mainly  by  outsiders,  as  has  largely 
happened  in  the  case  of  Canada's  forests.  A  pro- 
hibitory policy  was  urged  by  some,  but  this  seemed 
neither  wise  nor  practicable;  and  the  Dominion 
Covernment  set  at  work  to  save  as  large  a  share  as 
it  could.  As  there  are  gold  fields  on  the  Alaska 
side  of  the  line,  and  the  approaches  he  through 
I  nited  States  territory,  a  spirit  of  reciprocal  accom- 
modation was  necessary.  One  difficulty  has  been 
averted  last  spring  by  President  Cleveland's  veto 
of  the  Immigration  bill,  one  provision  of  which 
would  have  prevented  Canadian  laborers  drawing 
wages  in  this  country,  and  probably  would  have  pro- 
voki  d  a  retaliatory  act. 

(  anada  has  already  placed  customs  officers  on  the 
passes  and  at  the  Yukon  crossing  of  the  boundary 
to  collect   customs  duties  not  only  on  merchandise 


Goldex  Alaska. 


io: 


but  on  miner's  personal  outfits.  There  is  practically 
no  exception,  and  the  duty  comes  below  20  per  cent, 
on  but  few  articles.  On  most  of  the  goods  the  duty 
is  from  30  to  35  per  cent.,  and  in  several  instances 
higher,  but  the  matter  may  be  very  simply  ad- 
justed by  purchasing  tools  and  outfits  in  Victoria 
or  Vancouver,  for  thus  far  the  United  Slates  has 
placed  no  corresponding  obstruction  in  the  way  of 
Canadian  travellers  to  the  gold-fields,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  has  made  Dyea  a  sub-port  of  entry,  largely 
to  accommodate  British  transportation  lines.  The 
Canadian  Government  is  represented  in  that  region 
now  only  by  customs  officers  and  20  mounted  police, 
but  it  is  taking  steps  to  garrison  the  whole  upper 
Yukon  Valley  with  its  mounted  police, — a  body  of 
officers,  whose  functions  are  half  military,  half  civil, 
and  which,  it  may  as  well  be  conceded  once  for  all, 
cannot  be  trifled  with.  There  is  no  question  but 
that  they  will  do  their  level  best  to  enforce  the  laws 
to  the  utmost.  The  commander  of  each  detachment 
will  be  constituted  a  magistrate  of  limited  powers, 
so  that  civil  examinations  and  trials  may  be  speedily 
conducted. 

The  plan  is  to  erect  a  strong  post  a  short  distance 
north  of  the  sixtieth  degree  of  latitude,  just  above 
the  northern  boundary  of  British  Columbia,  and  be- 
vond  the  head  of  the  Lvnn  Canal,  where  the  Chil- 


iof)  <  1<  u.DEX  Alaska. 

kout  Pass  and  the  While  I'ass  converge.  This  post 
will  command  the  southern  entrance  to  the  whole 
cf  that  territory.  Further  oh  .-mall  police  posts  will 
lie  established,  ah' mt  fifty  miles  apart,  down  to  Fort 
Selkirk,  while  another  general  post  will  patrol  the 
river  near  the  international  boundary,  with  head- 
quarters, probably,  in  the  Klondike  valley. 

The  mining  regulations  of  Canada,  applying  to 
the  Yukon  placer  claims,  are  as  follows: 

''Bar  diggings"  shall  mean  any  part  of  a  river 
over  which  water  extends  when  the  water  is  in  its 
flooded  state  and  which  is  not  covered  at  low  water. 
"Mine-  on  benches"  shall  be  known  as  bench  dig- 
gings, and  shall  for  the  purpose  of  defining  the  size 

;  uch  claims  be  excepted  from  dry  diggings.  "Dry 
diggings"  shall  mean  any  mine  over  winch  a  river 
never  extends.  "Miner"  shall  mean  a  male  or  fe- 
male over  the  age  of  eighteen,  but  not  under  that 
age.  "Claims"  shall  mean  the  personal  right  of 
property  in  a  placer  mine  or  diggings  during  the 
time  for  which  the  grant  of  such  mine  or  digging- 
is  made.  "Legal  post"  shall  mean  a  stake  standing 
nut  less  than  four  feet  above  the  ground  and  squared 
on  four  sides  for  at  least  one  foot  from  the  top. 
"Close  season"   shall  mean   the  period  of  the  year 

luring  which  placer  mining  is  generally  suspended. 

I  he  period  to  be  fixed  b'v  the  gold  commissioner 


Golden*  Alaska. 


109 


in  whose  district  the  claim  is  situated.  "Locality" 
shall  mean  the  territory  along  a  river  (tributary  of 
the  Yukon)  and  its  affluents.  "Mineral"  shall  in- 
clude all  minerals  whatsoever  other  than  coal. 

1.  Bar  diggings.  A  strip  of  land  100  feet  wide 
at  highwater  mark  and  thence  extending  along  the 
river  to  its  lowest  water  level. 

2.  The  sides  of  a  claim  for  bar  diggings  shall  be 
two  parallel  lines  run  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right 
angles  to  the  stream,  and  shall  be  marked  by  four 
legal  posts,  one  at  each  end  of  the  claim  at  or  about 
high  water  mark;  also  one  at  each  end  of  the  claim 
at  or  about  the  edge  of  the  water  One  of  the  posts 
shall  be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the  miner 
and  the  date  upon  which  the  claim  is  staked. 

3.  Dry  diggings  shall  be  100  feet  square  and  shall 
have  placed  at  each  of  its  four  corners  a  legal  post. 
upon  one  of  which  shall  be  legibly  marked  the  name 
of  the  miner  and  the  date  upon  the  claim  was 
staked. 

4.  Creek  and  river  claims  shall  be  500  feet  long, 
measured  in  the  direction  of  the  mineral  course  of 
the  stream,  and  shall  extend  in  width  from  base  to 
base  of  the  hill  or  bench  on  each  side,  but  when  the 
hills  or  benches  are  less  than  100  feet  apart  the 
claim  may  be  100  feet  in  depth.  The  sides  of  a 
claim  shall  be  two  parallel   lines  run  as   nearly  as 


i  io  Golden  Alaska. 

possible  at  right  angles  to  the  stream.  The  sides 
shall  be  marked  with  legal  posts  at  or  about  the 
edge  of  the  water  and  at  the  rear  boundary  of  the 
claim.  One  of  the  legal  posts  at  the  stream  shall 
be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the  miner  and 
the  date  upon  which  the  claim  was  staked. 

5.  Bench  claims  shall  be  100  feet  square. 

6.  In  defining  the  size  of  claims  the}"  shall  be 
measured  horizontally,  irrespective  of  inequalities  on 
the  surface  of  the  ground. 

7.  If  any  person  or  persons  shall  discover  a  new 
mine  and  such  discovery  shall  be  established  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  gold  commissioner,  a  claim  for 
tlie  bar  diggings  750  feet  in  length  may  be  granted. 
A  new  stratum  of  auriferous  earth  or  gravel  situated 
in  a  locality  where  the  claims  are  abandoned  shall 
for  this  purpose  be  deemed  a  new  mine,  although 
the  same  locality  shall  have  previously  been  worked 
at  a  different  level. 

8.  The  forms  of  application  for  a  grant  for  placer 
mining  and  the  grant  in  the  same  shall  be  according 
to  those  made,  provided  or  supplied  by  the  goltl 
commissi*  >ner. 

(j.  A  claim  shall  be  recorded  with  the  gold  com- 
missioner in  whose  district  it  is  situated  within  three 
days  after  the  location  thereof  if  it  is  located  within 
ten   miles   of  the   commissioner's   office.     One   dav 


Golden  Alaska.  i  i  i 

extra  shall  be  allowed  for  making  such  record  for 

ever}'  additional  ten  miles  and  fraction  thereof 

io.  In  the  event  of  the  absence  of  the  gold  com- 
missioner from  his  office  for  entry  a  claim  mav  be 
granted  by  any  person  whom  he  may  appoint  to 
perform  his  duties  in  his  absence. 

11.  Entry  shall  not  be  granted  for  a  claim  which 
lias  not  been  staked  by  the  applicant  in  person  in 
the  manner  specified  in  these  resolutions.  An  affi- 
davit that  the  claim  was  staked  out  by  the  applicant 
shall  be  embodied  in  the  application. 

12.  An  entry  fee  of  $15  shall  be  charged  the  first 
year  and  an  annual  fee  of  Si 00  for  each  of  the  fol- 
lowing years: 

13.  After  recording  a  claim  the  removal  of  any 
post  by  the  holder  thereof  or  any  person  acting 
in  his  behalf  for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  boun- 
daries of  his  claim  shall  act  as  a  forfeiture  of  the 
claim. 

14.  The  entry  of  every  holder  for  a  grant  for 
placer  mining  must  be  renewed  and  his  receipt  re- 
linquished and  replaced  every  year,  the  entry  fee  be- 
ing paid  each  year. 

15.  Xo  miner  shall  receive  a  grant  for  more  than 
one  mining  claim  in  the  same  locality:  but  the  same 
miner  mav  hold  anv  number  of  claims  by  purchase, 
and  anv  number  of  miners  mav  unite  to  work  their 


112  Golden  Alaska. 

claims  in  common  upon  such  terms  as  they  may  ar- 
range, provided  such  agreement  be  registered  with 
the  Gold  Commissioner  and  a  fee  of  $15  for  each 
registration. 

16.  And  miner  may  sell,  mortgage,  or  dispose  of 
his  claims,  provided  such  disposal  be  registered  with 
and  a  fee  of  $5  paid  to  the  Gold  Commissioner. 

17.  Every  miner  shall,  during  the  continuance  of 
his  grant,  have  the  exclusive  right  of  entry  upon  his 
own  claim  for  the  miner-like  working  thereof,  and 
the  construction  of  a  residence  thereon,  and  shall  be 
entitled  exclusively  to  all  the  proceeds  realized  there- 
from; but  he  shall  have  no  surface  rights  therein, 
and  the  Gold  Commissioner  may  grant  to  the  hold- 
ers of  adjacent  claims  such  rights  of  entry  thereon 
as  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for  the  working  of 
their  claims,  upon  such  terms  as  may  to  him  seem 
reasonable.  He  may  also  grant  permits  to  miners 
to  cut  timber  thereon  for  their  own  use,  upon  pay- 
ment of  the  dues  prescribed  by  the  regulation  in 
that  behalf. 

18.  Every  miner  .-hall  be  entitled  to  the  use  of  so 
much  of  the  water  naturally  llowing  through  or 
past  his  claim,  and  not  already  lawfully  appropriated 
as  shall  in  the  opinion  of  the  Gold  Commissioner 
be  necessary  for  the  due  working  thereof,  and  shall 
be  entitled  to  drain  his  own  claim  free  of  charge. 


.A 


,-* 


CHILKOOT    PASS. 


Goldex  Alaska.  115 

19.  A  claim  shall  be  deemed  to  be  abandoned 
and  open  to  occupation  and  entry  by  any  person 
when  the  same  shall  have  remained  unworked  on 
working  days  by  the  guarantee  thereof  or  by  some 
person  in  his  behalf  for  the  space  of  seventy-two 
hours  unless  sickness  or  some  other  reasonable 
cause  may  be  shown  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Gold 
Commissioner,  or  unless  the  guarantee  is  absent  on 
leave  given  by  the  commissioner,  and  the  Gold  Com- 
missioner, upon  obtaining  satisfactory  evidence  that 
this  provision  is  not  being  complied  with,  may  can- 
cel the  entry  given  in  the  claim. 

20.  If  the  land  upon  which  a  claim  has  been  lo- 
cated is  not  the  property  of  the  Crown  it  will  be 
necessary  for  the  person  who  applies  for  entry  to 
furnish  proof  that  he  has  acquired  from  the  owner 
of  the  land  the  surface  right  before  entry  can  be 
granted. 

21.  If  the  occupier  of  the  lands  has  not  received 
a  patent  thereof  the  purchase  money  of  the  surface 
rights  must  be  paid  to  the  Crown  and  a  patent  of 
the  surface  rights  will  issue  to  the  party  who  ac- 
quired the  mining  rights.  The  money  so  collected 
will  either  be  refunded  to  the  occupier  of  the  land 
when  he  is  entitled  to  a  patent  there  or  will  be  cred- 
ited to  him  on  account  of  payment  of  land. 

22.  When  the  party  obtaining  the  mining  rights 


n6  Golden  Alaska. 

cannot  make  an  arrangement  with  the  owner  there- 
of for  the  acquisition  of  the  surface  rights  it  shall  be 
lawful  for  him  to  give  notice  to  the  owner  or  his 
agents  or  the  occupier  to  appoint  an  arbitrator  to 
act  with  another  arbitrator  named  by  him  in  order 
to  award  the  amount  of  compensation  to  which  the 
owner  or  occupier  shall  be  entitled. 

The  royalty  and  reserve  additions  to  this,  made 
since  the  recent  discoveries  and  on  account  of  them, 
are  as  follows: 

j.  A  royalty  of  10  per  cent  will  be  collected  for 
the  government  on  all  amounts  taken  out  of  any  one 
claim  up  to  S500  a  week,  and  after  that  20  per  cent. 
This  royalty  will  be  collected  on  gold  taken  from 
streams  already  being  worked,  but  in  regard  to  all 
future  discoveries  the  government  proposes 

2.  That  upon  every  river  and  creek  where  mining 
locations  shall  be  staked  out  every  alternate  claim 
shall  be  the  property  of  the  government. 

These  regulations,  say  the  Canadians,  are  made 
with  the  purpose  of  developing  a  country,  which, 
as  elsewhere  shown  in  this  pamphlet,  is  capable  of 
supporting  a  large  permanent  population  and  varied 
industries.  Whether  they  can  be  enforced  remains 
to  be  seen,  and  difficulties  will  certainly  attend  the 
collection  of  a  royalty  on  gold-dust.  The  effect  of 
these  regulations,  it  is  believed  bv  the  authors,  will 


Golden  Alaska.  117 

be  to  encourage  permanent  settlement  and  the  treat- 
ment of  mining  as  a  regular  industry  and  not  simply 
as  an  adventurous  speculation.  Another  effect,  un- 
doubtedly, will  be  to  cause  immigrants,  including 
Canadians  themselves,  to  prospect  and  mine  on  the 
United  States  side  of  the  line,  whenever  they  have 
an  equal  opportunity  for  success. 

The  boundary  dispute  does  not  as  yet  seriously 
affect  the  question  or  rights  and  privileges  in  the 
new  gold  regions,  as  the  disputed  part  of  the  line, 
southeast  of  Alaska,  runs  through  a  region  not  yet 
occupied,  and  practically  the  whole  of  Lynn  Canal 
is  administered  by  the  United  States,  and  the  Ca- 
nadians act  as  though  it  were  decided  that  their 
boundary  was  farther  inland  than  some  of  them 
pretend.  From  Alt.  St.  Elias  north,  the  141st  me- 
ridian is  the  undisputed  boundary,  and  this  has  been 
fixed  by  an  international  commission,  crossing  the 
Yukon  at  a  marked  point  near  the  mouth  of  Forty 
Mile  Creek.  Nearly  or  quite  all  of  the  diggings 
upon  which  are  written  Alaskan  territory,  as  also 
are  the  valuable  placers  on  Birch  and  Miller  creeks. 
It  will  be  a  matter  of  extreme  difficulty  along  this 
part  of  the  boundary  to  prevent  smuggling,  to  dis- 
cover and  collect  Canadian  royalties,  and  to  capture 
criminals  except  by  international  cooperation. 


1 1 8  Golden  Alaska. 

CLIMATE,  ACRICULTURE  AND   HEALTH. 

The  Weather  Bureau  has  made  public  a  state- 
ment in  regard  to  the  climate  of  Alaska,  which  says: 
"The  climates  of  the  coast  and  the  interior  of  Alaska 
are  unlike  in  many  respects,  and  the  differences  are 
intensified  in  this  as  perhaps  in  few  other  countries 
by  exceptional  physical  conditions.  The  fringe  of 
islands  that  separates  the  mainland  from  the  Pacific 
Ocean  from  Dixon  Sound  north,  and  also  a  strip 
of  the  mainland  for  possibly  twenty  miles  back  from 
the  sea,  following  the  sweep  of  the  coast  as  it  curves 
to  the  northwestward  to  the  western  extremity  of 
Alaska  form  a  distinct  climatic  division  which  may 
be  termed  temperate  Alaska.  The  temperature  rare- 
ly falls  to  zero;  winter  does  not  set  in  until  Dec.  I, 
and  by  the  last  of  May  the  snow  has  disappeared  ex- 
cept on  the  mountains. 

"The  mean  winter  temperature  of  Sitka  is  32.5, 
but  little  less  than  that  of  Washington.  D.  C.  The 
rainfall  of  temperate  Alaska  is  notorious  the  world 
over,  not  only  as  regards  the  quantity,  but  also  as 
to  the  manner  of  it.-  falling,  viz.:  in  long  and  inces- 
sant rains  and  drizzles.  Cloud  and  fog  naturally 
abound,  there  being  on  an  average  but  sixty-six 
clear  davs  in  thr  vear. 


GENERAL  VIEW    OF   SILVER    BOW    BASIN,    NEAR   JUNEAU. 


Golden  Alaska.  121 

"North  of  the  Aleutian  Islands  the  coast  climate 
becomes  more  rigorous  in  winter,  but  in  summer 
the  difference  is  much  less  marked. 

"The  climate  of  the  interior  is  one  of  extreme 
rigor  in  winter,  with  a  brief  but  relatively  hot  sum- 
mer, especially  when  the  sky  is  free  from  cloud. 

"In  the  Klondike  region  in  midwinter  the  sun 
rises  from  9:30  to  10  a.  m.,  and  sets  from  2  to  3  p. 
m.,  the  total  length  of  daylight  being  about  four 
hours.  Remembering  that  the  sun  rises  but  a  few 
degrees  above  the  horizon  and  that  it  is  wholly  ob- 
scured on  a  great  many  days,  the  character  of  the 
winter  months  may  easily  be  imagined. 

"We  are  indebted  to  the  United  States  coast  and 
geodetic  survey  for  a  series  of  six  months'  observa- 
tions on  the  Yukon,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the 
present  gold  discoveries.  The  observations  were 
made  with  standard  instruments,  and  are  wholly  re- 
liable. The  mean  temperatures  of  the  months  Oc- 
tober, 1889,  to  April,  1890,  both  inclusive,  are  as  fol- 
lows: October,  33  degrees;  November,  8  degrees; 
December,  11  degrees,  below  zero;  January,  17  be- 
low zero;  February,  15  below  zero;  March,  6  above; 
April  20  above.  The  daily  mean  temperature  fell 
and  remained  below  the  freezing  point  (32  degrees) 
from  Nov.  4,  1889,  to  April  21,  1890,  thus  giving 
168  days  as  the  length  of  the  closed  season  of  1889- 


122  (.]<  ildex  Alaska. 

"(jo,  assuming  that  outdoor  operations  are  controlled 
by  temperature  only.  The  lowest  temperatures 
registered  during  the  winter  were:  Thirty-two  de- 
grees below  zero  in  November,  47  below  in  De- 
cember. 59  below  in  January,  55  below  in  February, 
45  below  in   March,  and  26  below  in  April. 

"The  greatest  continuous  cold  occurred  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1890,  when  the  daily  mean  for  five  consecu- 
tive days  was  47  degrees  below  zero. 

"Greater  cold  than  that  here  noted  has  been  ex- 
perienced in  the  L'nited  States  for  a  very  short  time, 
but  never  has  it  continued  so  very  cold  for  so  long 
a  time  as  in  the  interior  of  Alaska.  The  winter  sets 
in  as  early  a>  September,  when  snow-storms  may 
be  expected  in  the  mountain-  and  passes.  Head- 
way during  one  of  those  storms  is  impossible,  and 
the  traveler  who  is  overtaken  by  one  of  them  is 
indeed  fortunate  it'  he  escapes  with  his  life.  Snow- 
storms of  great  severity  may  occur  in  any  month 
from  September  to  May.  inclusive. 

"The  changes  of  temperature  from  winter  to  sum- 
mer are  rapid,  owing  to  the  great  increase  in  the 
length  of  the  day.  In  May  the  sun  rise-  at  about  3 
a.  m.  and  sets  about  o  p.  m.  In  June  it  rises  about 
half  past  1  in  the  morning,  and  sets  at  about  half 
past  10.  giving  about  twenty  hours  of  day-light  and 
diffuse  twilight  the  remainder  of  the  time. 


Golden  Alaska.  123 

"The  mean  summer  temperature  in  the  interior 
doubtless  ranges  between  60  and  70  degrees,  ac- 
cording  to  elevation,  being  highest  in  the  middle 
and  lower  Yukon  valleys." 

Accurate  data  of  the  temperature  in  the  Klon- 
dike district  were  kept  at  Fort  Constantine  last  year. 
The  temperature  first  touched  zero  Nov.  10,  and 
the  zero  weather  recorded  in  the  spring  was  on  April 
29. 

Between  Dec.  19  and  Feb.  6  it  never  rose  above 
zero.  The  lowest  actual  point,  65  below,  accurred 
on  Jan.  27,  and  on  twenty-four  days  during  the  win- 
ter the  temperature  was  below  50. 

On  March  12  it  first  rose  above  the  freezing  point, 
but  no  continuous  mild  weather  occurred  until  May 
4,  after  which  date  the  temperature  during  the  bal- 
ance of  the  month  frequently  rose  above  60  de- 
grees. 

The  Yukon  River  froze  up  on  Oct.  28  and  broke 
up  on   May    17. 

The  long  and  severe  winter  and  the  frozen  moss- 
covered  ground  are  serious  obstacles  to  agriculture 
and  stock  raising.  The  former  can  change  but  lit- 
tle with  coming  seasons,  but  the  latter,  by  gradually 
burning  off  areas,  can  be  overcome  to  some  extent. 
On  such  burned  tracts  hardy  vegetables  have  been 
and  may  be  raised,  and  the  area  open  to  such  use 


124  Golden  Alaska. 

is  considerable.  Potatoes  do  well  and  barley  will 
mature  a  fair  crop. 

Live  stock  may  be  kept  by  providing  an  abund- 
ance of  shelter  and  feed  and  housing  them  during 
the  winter.  In  summer  an  abundance  of  the  finest 
grass  pasture  can  be  had,  and  great  quantities  of  na- 
tural hay  can  be  cut  in  various  places. 

Diseases:  In  spite  of  all  that  is  heard  in  the 
newspapers  regarding  the  healthfulness  of  the  cli- 
mate of  Alaska  and  the  upper  Yukon,  the  Census 
Report  of  Alaska  offers  its  incontestable  statistics  to 
the  effect  that  the  country  is  not  more  salubrious, 
nor  its  people  more  healthy  than  could  be  expected 
in  a  region  of  violent  climate,  where  the  most  ordi- 
nary laws  of  health  remain  almost  totally  ignored. 
From  the  Government  Report  we  quote  the  follow- 
ing: 

"Those  diseases  which  are  most  fatal  to  life  in  one 
section  of  Alaska  seem  to  be  applicable  to  all  others. 
In  the  first  place,  the  native  children  receive  little 
or  no  care,  and  for  the  first  few  years  of  their  lives 
are  more  often  naked  than  clothed,  at  all  seasons  of 
the  year.  Consumption  is  the  simple  and  compre- 
hensive title  for  the  disease  which  destroys  the 
greater -number  of  the  people  of  Alaska.  Aluet,  In- 
dian and  Eskimo  suffer  from  it  alike;  and  all  alike 
exhibit  the  same  stolid  indifference  to  its  slow  and 


K  *■■ 

I -■  -  £ 

"  * 

■j?v£*< 

■Br..  ■"•  => 

ifcv    "*^?- 

^BMbta*» 

^He 

HBE3 

■ten* 

■ 

: 

Goldex  Alaska.  127 

fatal  progress,  make  no  attempt  to  ward  it  off,  take 
no  special  precautions  even  when  the  disease  reaches 
its  climax. 

Xext  to  consumption,  the  scrofulous  diseases,  in 
the  forms  of  ulcers,  eat  into  the  vitals  and  destroy 
them  until  the  natives  have  the  appearance  of  lepers 
to  unaccustomed  eyes.  As  a  consequence  of  their 
neglect  and  the  exigencies  of  the  native  life,  forty  or 
fifty  years  is  counted  among  them  as  comparatively 
great  age,  and  none  are  without  the  ophthalmic  dis- 
eases necessarily  attendant  on  existence  in  smoky 
barabaras.  Against  snow-blindness  the  Eskimo 
people  use  peculiar  goggles,  but  by  far  the  greater 
evil,  the  smoke  poisoning  of  the  ophmalmic  nerve 
is  neither  overcome  nor  prevented  by  any  of  them. 
All  traders  carry  medicine  chests  and  do  what  they 
can  to  relieve  suffering,  but  it  requires  a  great  deal 
of  medicine  to  make  an  impression  on  the  native 
constitution,  doses  being  about  four  times  what 
would  suffice  an  Englishman  or  American. 


128  Golden  Alaska. 

OUTFITS,  SUPPLIES,  ETC. 

Houses. — Almost  every  item  has  been  taken  into 
consideration  by  the  prospectors  starting  out  to  face 
an  Alaskan  winter  except  the  item  of  shelter  when 
they  shall  have  put  their  boats  in  winter  dock.  The 
result  will  be  that  many  hundreds  will  find  them- 
selves in  the  bleak  region  with  plenty  of  money  and 
victuals,  but  insufficient  protection  from  the  cold 
weather.  From  accounts  that  have  come  from 
Alaska  and  British  Columbia,  there  are  more  men 
there  skilled  in  digging"  and  bookkeeping  than  in 
carpentry,  and  more  picks  and  shovels  than  axes 
and  planes.  With  the  arrival  of  parties  that  have 
lately  gone  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Yukon,  there 
will  necessarily  be  an  immense  demand  for  houses, 
for  without  them  the  miners  will  freeze.  This  mat- 
ter is  beginning  to  receive  attention  in  San  Fran- 
cisco and  Seattle,  and  preparations  are  now  under 
way  to  provide  gold  seekers  with  houses. 

Within  a  week  negotiations  have  been  conducted 
between  parties  in  San  Francisco  and  this  city  for 
the  shipment  of  entire  houses  to  the  gold  re- 
gions. The  houses  will  be  constructed  in  sections, 
so  that  they  may  be  carried  easily  in  boats  up  the 
Yukon  or  packed  on  sleds  and  carried  through  the 
rough    country  in   baggage  trains.     A   New   York 


Golden  Alaska.  131 

firm  which  make-  a  specialty  of  such  houses  has  re- 
ceived orders  for  as  many  as  can  be  sent  there. 

Xo  tents  are  used  in  winter,  as  they  become  coated 
with  ice  from  the  breath  of  the  sleepers  and  are  also 
apt  to  take  fire. 

Clothing  for  Men. — A  year's  supply  of  winter 
clothing  ought  be  taken,  especial  pains  being  taken 
to  supply  plenty  of  warm,  durable  underwear.  Old- 
timer-  in  the  country  wear  in  winter  a  coat  or  blouse 
of  dressed  d  ■  r  skin,  wit!  tl  hair  on.  coming  down 
to  the  knees  and  held  by  a  belt  round  the  waist.  It 
has  a  hood  which  may  be  thrown  back  on  the 
shoulders  when  not  needed.  This  shirt  is  trimmed 
with  white  deer-kin  or  wolfskin,  while  those  worn 
in  extreme  weather  are  often  lined  with  fur.  Xext 
in  importance  to  them  are  the  torbassa  or  Eskimo 
boots.  These  are  of  reindeer  skin,  taken  from  the 
.  .'.'.  r  the  hair  is  short,  smooth  and  stiff.  These 
are  sewed  together  to  make  the  tops  of  the  boots 
which  come  up  nearly  to  the  knee,  where  the}-  are 
tied.  The  sole  is  of  sealskin,  turned  over  at  heel 
and  toe  and  gathered  up  so  as  to  protect  those 
parts  an  '.  then  brought  up  on  each  side.     They  are 

::.'.•  :h  larger  than  the  foot  ai   1  ;  n 
a   pad   of   dry   gras-    which,   fold    1    to   fit   the    sole, 
thickens  the  boo:  and  forms  an  additional  prote 
to  the  foot.     A  pair  of  strings  tied  about  the  ankle 


132  Golden  Alaska. 

* 

from  either  side  complete  a  covering  admirably 
adapted  to  the  necessities  of  winter  travel.  If  the 
newcomer  can  get  such  garments  as  these  he  will 
be  well  provided  against  winter  rigors. 

Women  going  to  the  mines  are  advised  to  take 
two  pairs  of  extra  heavy  all-wool  blankets,  one  small 
pillow,  one  fur  robe,  one  warm  shawl,  one  fur  coat, 
easy  fitting;  three  warm  woollen  dresses,  with  com- 
fortable bodices  and  shirts  knee  length,  flannel-lined 
preferable;  three  pairs  of  knickers  or  bloomers  to 
match  the  dresses,  three  suits  of  heavy  all-wool  un- 
derwear, three  warm  flannel  night  dresses,  four 
pairs  of  knitted  woollen  stockings,  one  pair  of  rub- 
ber boots,  three  gingham  aprons  that  reach  from 
neck  to  knees,  small  roll  of  flannel  for  insoles,  wrap- 
ping the  feet  and  bandages;  a  sewing  kit,  such  toilet 
articles  as  are  absolutely  necessary,  including  some 
skin  unguent  to  protect  the  face  from  the  icy  cold, 
two  light  blouses  or  shirt  waists  for  summer  wear, 
one  oilskin  blanket  to  wrap  her  effects  in,  to  be 
secured  at  Juneau  or  St.  Michael;  one  fur  cape,  two 
pairs  of  fur  gloves,  two  pairs  of  surseal  moccasins, 
two  pairs  of  muclucs — wet  weather  moccasins. 

She  wears  what  she  pleases  en  route  to  Juneau  or 
St.  Michael,  and  when  she  makes  her  start  for  the 
diggings  she  lays  aside  every  civilized  traveling 
garb,  including  shoes  and  stays,  until  she  comes  out. 


Golden  Alaska.  135 

Instead  of  carrying  the  fur  robe,  fur  coat  and  rub- 
ber boots  along",  she  can  get  them  on  entering  Alas- 
ka, but  the  experienced  ones  say,  take  them  along. 
Leggings  and  shoes  are  not  so  safe  nor  desirable  as 
the  moccasins.  A  trunk-  is  not  the  thing  to  trans- 
port baggage  in.  Tt  is  much  better  in  a  pack,  with 
the  oilskin  cover  well  tied  on.  The  things  to  add 
that  are  useful,  but  not  absolutely  necessary,  are 
chocolate,  coffee  and  the  smaller  light  luxuries. 

Beds  are  made  on  a  platform  raised  a  few  feet 
from  the  floor,  and  about  seven  feet  wide.  Often 
consists  of  a  raindeer  skin  with  the  hair  on  and  one 
end  sewn  up  so  as  to  make  a  sort  of  bag  to  put 
the  feet  in.  A  pillow  of  wild  goose  feathers,  and  a 
pair  of  blankets.  Sheets,  which  have  been  un- 
known heretofore,  may  become  essential,  but  such 
a  conventionality  as  a  counterpane  would  better  be 
left  behind. 

Provisions. — There  was  a  report  that  Canadian 
mounted  police  would  guard  the  passes  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  summer  of  [897  and  refuse  admis- 
sion to  anyone  who  did  not  bring  a  year's  provisions 
with  him.  This  has  been  estimated  as  weighing 
1,800  pounds.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  no  one  should  go  into  the  Yukon  country 
without  taking  a  large  supply  of  food,  and  taking 
it  from   his   starting-point.     Whatever   is   the   most 


136  Golden  Alaska. 

condensed  and  nutritions  is  the  cheapest,  and  this 
should  be  collected  with  great  care.  There  is  well- 
grounded  fear  that  famine  may  overtake  all  the 
camps  there  before  the  opening  of  navigation  in  the 
spring.  Newspapers  on  August  2nd  reported  agents 
of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  as  saying: 

"We  shall  refuse  to  take  passengers  at  all  in  our 
next  steamer.  We  could  sell  every  berth  at  the 
price  we  have  been  asking — S250,  as  against  $120 
last  spring — but  we  shall  not  sell  one.  We  shall 
fill  up  with  provisions,  and  I  have  no  doubt  the 
Facific  Coast  Company  will  do  the  same.  We  are 
afraid.  Those  who  are  mad  to  get  to  the  diggings 
will  probably  be  able  to  get  transportation  by  char- 
tering tramp  steamers,  and  there  is  a  serious  risk 
that  there  will  not  be  food  enough  for  them  at  Ju- 
neau or  on  the  Yukon.  After  the  season  closes  it 
will  be  next  to  impossible  to  get  supplies  into  the 
Yukon  country,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  gold 
seekers  may  starve  to  death.  That  would  be  an 
ominous  beginning  for  the  new  camp.  Alaska  is 
not  like  California  or  Australia  or  South  Africa.  It 
produces  nothing.  When  the  supplies  from  out- 
side are  exhausted,  famine  must  follow — to  what  de- 
gree no  i.UL'  can  tell." 

Tt  was  further  understood  at  this  date  that  there 
are  2.000  tons  of  food  at  St.  Michael,  and  the  Alaska 


Golden  Alaska.  139 

Company  has  three  large  and  three  small  steamers 
to  carry  it  up  river.  It  is  hard  to  ascertain  how 
much  there  is  at  Juneau;  it  is  vaguely  stated— that 
there  are  5,000  tons.  At  a  pinch  steamers  might  p 
work  their  way  for  several  months  to  come  through" 
the  ice  to  that  port  from  Seattle,  which  is  only 
three  days  distant.  But  it  may  be  nip  and  tuck  if 
there  is  any  rush  of  gold  seekers  from  the  East. 

Alaskan  Mails. — Between  Seattle  and  Sitka  the 
mail  steamers  ply  regularly.     On  the  City  of  To- 

peka  there  has  been  established  a  regular  sea  post- 
office  service.  W.  R.  Curtis  is  the  clerk  in  charge. 
Between  Sitka  and  Juneau  there  is  a  closed  pouch 
steamboat  service.  Seattle  makes  up  closed  pouches 
for  Douglas,  Fort  Wrangel,  Juneau,  Killisnoo,  Ket- 
chikan, Mary  Island,  Sitka,  and  Metlakatlah.  Con- 
necting at  Sitka  is  other  sea  service  between  that 
point  and  Unalaska,  1,400  miles  to  the  west.  This 
service  consists  of  one  trip  a  month  between  Sitka 
and  Unalaska  from  xA.pril  to  October  and  leaves  Sit- 
ka immediately  upon  arrival  of  the  mails  from  Seat- 
tle. Captain  J.  E.  Hanson  is  acting  clerk.  From 
Unalaska  the  mails  are  dispatched  to  St.  Michael 
and  thence  to  points  on  the  Yukon. 

The  Postoffice  department  has  perfected  not  only 
a  summer  but  a  winter  star  route  service  between 
Juneau  and  Circle  City.     The  route  is  overland  and 


140  Golden  Alaska. 

by  boats  and  rafts  over  the  lakes  and  down  the  Yu- 
kon, and  is  900  miles  long".  A  Chicago  man  named 
Beddoe  carries  the  summer  mail,  making  five  trips 
between  June  and  November,  and  is  paid  $500  a 
trip.  Two  Juneau  men,  Frank  Corwin  and  Albert 
Hayes,  operate  the  winter  service  and  draw  for  each 
round  trip  $1,700  in  gold.  About  1,200  letters  are 
carried  on  each  trip.  The  cost  of  forwarding  let- 
ters from  Circle  City  to  Dawson  City  is  one  dollar 
for  each  letter  and  two  for  each  paper,  the  mails 
being  sent  over  once  a  month.  The  Chilkoot  Pass 
is  crossed  with  the  mail  by  means  of  Indian  car- 
riers. On  the  previous  trips  the  carriers,  after  fin- 
ishing the  pass,  built  their  boats,  but  they  now  have 
their  own  to  pass  the  lakes  and  the  Lewes  River. 

In  the  winter  transportation  is  carried  on  by  means 
of  dogsleds,  and  it  is  hoped  that  under  the  present 
contracts  there  will  be  no  stoppage,  no  matter  how 
low  the  temperature  may  go.  The  contractor  has 
reported  that  he  was  sending  a  boat,  in  sections, 
by  way  of  St.  Michael,  up  the  Yukon  River,  to  be 
used  on  the  waterway  of  the  route,  and  it  is  thought 
much  time  will  be  saved  by  this,  as  formerly  it 
was  necessary  for  the  carriers  to  stop  and  build 
boats  or  rafts  to  pass  the  lakes. 

Contracts  have  been  made  with  two  steamboat 
companies  for  two  trips  from  Seattle  to  St.  Michael. 


Golden  Alaska  143 

When  the  steamers  reach  St.  Michael,  the  mail  will 
be  transferred  to  the  flat-bottomed  boats  running 
up  the  Y.ukon  as  far  as  Circle  City.  It  is  believed 
the  boats  now  run  further  up. 

The  contracts  for  the  overland  route  call  for  only 
first-class  matter,  whereas  the  steamers  in  summer 
carry  everything,  up  to  five  tons,  each  trip. 

Sledges  and  Dogs. — The  sleds  are  heavy  and  shod 
with  bone  sawed  from  the  upper  edge  of  the  jaw  of 
the  bowright  whale.  The  rest  of  the  sled  is  of 
spruce  and  will  carry  from  six  to  eight  hundred 
pounds.  The  sleds  used  in  the  interior  are  lighter 
and  differently  constructed.  They  consist  of  a  nar- 
row box  four  feet  long,  the  front  half  being  covered 
or  boxed  in,  mounted  on  a  floor  eight  feet  long  rest- 
ing on  runners.  In  this  box  the  passenger  sits, 
wrapped  in  rabbit  skins  so  that  he  can  hardly  move, 
his  head  and  shoulders  only  projecting.  In  front 
and  behind  and  on  top  of  the  box  is  placed  all  the 
luggage,  covered  with  canvas  and  securely  lashed, 
to  withstand  all  the  jolting  and  possible  upsets,  and 
our  snow  shoes  within  easy  reach. 

An  important  item  is  the  dog- whip,  terrible  to  the 
dog  if  used  by  a  skillful  hand  and  terrible  to  the 
user  if  he  be  a  novice;  for  he  is  sure  to  half  strangle 
himself  or  to  hurt  his  own  face  with  the  business 
end  of  the  lash.     The  whip  T  measured  had  a  handle 


144  Golden  Alaska. 

nine  inches  long  and  lash  thirty  feet,  and  weighed 
four  pounds.  The  lash  was  of  folded  and  plaited 
seal  hide,  and  for  five  feet  from  the  handle  measured 
five  inches  round,  then  for  fourteen  feet  it  gradually 
tapered  off,  ending  in  a  single  thong  half  an  inch 
thick  and  eleven  feet  long.  Wonderful  the  dex- 
terity with  which  a  driver  can  pick  out  a  dog  and 
almost  a  spot  on  a  dog  with  this  lash.  The  lash 
must  be  trailing  at  full  length  behind,  when  a  jerk 
and  turn  of  the  wrist  causes  it  to  fly  forward,  the 
thick  part  first,  and  the  tapering  end  continuing 
the  motion  till  it  is  at  full  length  in  front,  and  the 
lash  making  the  fur  fly  from  the  victim.  But  often 
it  is  made  to  crack  over  the  heads  of  the  dogs  as  a 
warning. 

The  eleven  flogs  were  harnessed  to  the  front  of 
the  sled,  each  by  a  separate  thong  of  seal  hide,  all 
of  different  lengths,  fastened  to  a  light  canvas  har- 
ness. The  nearest  dog  was  about  fifteen  feet  from 
the  sled,  and  the  leader,  with  bells  on  her.  about 
fifty  feet,  the  thongs  thus  increasing  in  length  by 
about  three  feet.  When  the  going  is  good  the  dogs 
spread  out  like  the  fingers  of  a  hand,  but  when  the 
snow  is  deep  the}"  fall  into  each  other's  tracks  in 
almost  single  file.  As  they  continually  cross  and 
recross  each  other,  the  thongs  get  gradually  plaited 
almost  up  to  the  rearmost  dog,  when  a  halt  is  called, 


A   TEAM    OF    DOGS    AND    DOG    SLEDGES. 


Golden  Alaska.  147 

the  dogs  are  made  to  lie  down,  and  the  driver  care- 
fully disentangles  them,  taking  care  that  no  dog 
gets  away  meanwhile.  They  are  guided  by  the 
voice,  using  "husk},"  that  is,  Eskimo  words: 
"Owk,"  go  to  the  right;  "arrah,"  to  the  left,  and 
"holt,"  straight  on.  But  often  one  of  the  men  must 
run  ahead  on  snowshoes  for  the  dogs  to  follow  him. 

The  dogs  are  of  all  colors,  somewhat  the  height 
of  the  Newfoundland,  but  with  shorter  legs.  The 
usual  number  is  from  five  to  seven,  according  to  the 
load. 

List  of  prices  that  have  been  current  in  Dawson 
City  during  1897: 

Flour,  per   100  lbs $12.00  to  $120.00 

Moose  ham,  ner  lb 1.00  to        2.00 

Caribou  meat,  lb 65 

Beans,  per  lb 10 

Rice,  per  lb 25  to  .75 

Sugar,  per  lb 25 

Bacon,  per  lb ' 40  to  .80 

Butter,  per  roll 1.50  to        2.50 

Eggs,  per  doz 1 .50  to        3.00 

Better  eggs,  doz 2.00 

Salmon,  each 1.00  to        1.50 

Potatoes,  per  lb 25 

Turnips,  per  lb 15 

Tea,  per  lb 1 .00  to        3.00 

Coffee,  per  lb 50  to        2.25 

Dried  fruits,  per  lb 35 


148  (  Ioldex  Alaska. 

Canned  fruits 50  to  ^.25 

Lemons,  each 20  to  .25 

Oranges,  each 50 

Tobacco,  per  11) 1.50  to  2.00 

Liquors,  per  drink 53 

Shovels   2.50  to  18.00 

Picks   5.00  to  7.00 

Coal  oil,  per  gal 1 .00  to  2. 50 

Overalls   1.50 

Underwear,  per  suit   5.00  to  7.50 

Shoes 5.00  to  8.00 

Rubber   boots    15.00  to  18.00 

Based  on  supply  and  demand  the  above  quoted 
prices  may  vary  several  hundred  per  cent,  on  some 
articles  at  any  time. 

Fare  to  Seattle  by  way  of  Northern  Pacific,  $81.50. 

Fee  for  Pullman  sleeper,  $20.50. 

Fee  for  tourist  sleeper,  run  only  west  of  St. 
Paul  $55. 

Meals  served  in  dining  car  for  entire  trip,  $16. 

Meals  are  served  at  stations  along  the  route  a  la 
carte. 

Distance  from  Xew  York  to  Seattle.  3.290  miles. 

Days  required  to  make  the  journey,  about  six. 

Fare  for  steamer  from  Seattle  to  Juneau,  includ- 
ing cabin  and  meals.  $35. 

Days.  Seattle  to  Juneau,  about  five. 

Number  of  miles  from  Seattle  to  Juneau,  725. 


Golden  Alaska.  149 

Cost  of  living"  in  Juneau,  about  $3  per  day. 

Distance    on    Lynn     Canal     to     Healey's     Store, 
steamboat,  seventy-five  miles. 

Number  of  days,  New  York  to  Healey's  Store, 
twelve. 

Cost  of    complete    outfit    for    overland    journey, 
about  $150. 

Cost  of  provisions  for  one  year,  about  $200. 

Cost  of  dogs,  sled  and  outfit,  about  $150. 

Steamer  leaves  Seattle  once  a  week, 

Best  time  to  start  is  early  in  the  Spring. 

Total  cost  of  trip,  New  York  to  Klondike,  about 
$667. 

Number  of  days  required  for  journey,  New  York 
to  Klondike,  thirty-six  to  forty. 

Total  distance,  New  York  to  the  mines  at  Klon- 
dike, 4,650  miles. 


<»v: 


■e-o' 
•oi-\ 


•6- 

■ox-1 


■pgnvij 


si  (\ 


and  Points. 

Aldington,  C-9. 
Alitak,  C-5. 
Anchor,  C-5. 
Anxiety,  A-6. 
Banks,  C-5. 
Barnabas,  C-5. 
Barrow,  A-4. 
Bartolome,  C-9. 
Becher,  A-6. 
Beet  hey,  A-6. 
Belcher,  A-3. 
Black,  C-5. 
Blossom,  A-3. 
Campbell,  B-6. 
Chlniak,  C-5. 
Chitnak,  B-l. 
Christy,  A-4. 
Cleare,  C-6. 
Collie,  A-3. 
Constantine,  C-4. 
Cross,  C-8. 
Current,  C-5. 
Dall,  B-2. 
Dan  by,  B-3. 
Denbigh,  B-3. 
Douglas,  B-2. 
Douglas,  C-5. 
Dyer.  A-2. 
Dyer,  B-3. 
Edward,  C-8. 
Elizabeth,  C-5. 
Eroline,  C-4. 
Espenberg,  A-3. 
Etolin,  B-2. 
Fairweatuer,  C-8. 
Foggy,  C-4. 
Franklin,  A-3. 
Glasenap,  C-8. 
Grenville,  C-5. 


Lazareff,  D-3.  ittyna 
Leontovich,  C-8.  »ttysto 
Lewis,  A-2.  plitna 

Lisburne,  A-2.      lvllle, 
Low,  C-5.  p,per-,J 

Lowenstern,  A-8.J',e.^i  f 
Lutke,  D-3.  khkak 

Manbv,  C-7.  J1-  A'- 

Manning,  A-7.       lta>  B 
Martin,  A-? . 
Martin.  C-6. 
Meuchikof,  C-4. 
Muzon,  D-9. 
Narrow,  C-5. 


iggetloi 
igati,  B 
ikett, . 
sh,  A-3 
rty-nd 


Newenham,  C-3.  kona, 


rsde,  I 

•odpas! 

)kucha 

isstiak 

pikpui 

glixalil 

noko, 

pewik, 


Nome,  B-2. 
Ocean,  C-7. 
Ommaney,  C-8. 
Pankoff,  D-3. 
Peirce,  C-3. 
Pellew,  B-6. 
Pillar,  C-5. 
Pitt,  A-5. 

Prince  of  Wales,  hnsoa 
Providence,  C-4.  lknui  * 
Puget.  C-6.  ilucna, 

Resurrection,  C-6n,dl,k> 
Rodknoft',  C-8.  irjuk'.,( 
Rodnev,  B-2.  tsnunil. 
Romaiiof.  B-8.  'ssilof, 
Romanzof,  B-2.  iviavaz 
Saritchey,  D-2.  iy,lh'  L 
Seniavin,  C-3. 
Seppinge,  A-2. 
Sitkagi.  C-7. 
Smith.  B-2. 
Spencer,  A-2. 
Spencer,  C-8. 
St.  Augustine,  D-alk>  4B: 
St.  Elias,  C-7.  30;  A^ 
St.  Hennogenes,  *>kput 


vwleel 
nak,  B 
anarch 
atena, 
atsutal 
awasin 


Money  Order  Offices.       ^  Post  Offices  not  1 


b-7. 

ne,  B-7. 
B-4. 

A-5. 

5-6. 

-4. 

at,  A-4. 

6. 

jscat,  A-4. 

-6 

V-5. 

,'e,  B-7. 
B-6. 
;-6. 

er,  B-6. 
tna,  A-4. 
itua,  A-4. 
g,  A-5. 
:,  A-4. 
fi-4. 
A-3. 
B-6. 
1-5. 
B-7. 
\-7. 
'-5. 
:,  B-3. 
B-5 

ak,  A-3. 
-4. 

:,  A-3. 
-3. 

argat,  A-6. 
B-6. 

;akat,  B-5 
a.  B-6. 
6. 

'.    V-3. 


Ray,  A-5. 
Robertson,  B-6. 
Salmon,  A-7. 
Selawik,  A-4. 
Slana.  B-6. 
Soonkakat,  B-4. 
Stikine,  C-9. 
Sticker,  A-7. 
Snshitna,  B-6. 
Taclat,  B-5. 
Tahkandik,  A-7. 
Tanana,  B-6. 
Tasnioio,  B-6. 
Tatotlindu,  B-7. 
Ta/.lina,  B-6. 
Teiknell,  B-6. 
Traodee,  A-7. 
Tokai,  B-7. 
Tovikakal,  A-5. 
Ugaguk,  C-4. 
Ugashik,  C-4. 
Unalaklik,  B-4. 
Volkmar,  B-6. 
White,  B-7. 
Whvmper.  A-6. 
Woliek,  A-3. 
Yukon,  B-3. 

Towns,     pop. 

Afo^nak,  C-5 409 

Alaganik,  B-6  ...   48 

Anagnak,  C-4 

Anvik,  B-3 191 

Attanak,  A-4 

Attenmtit,  A-4 

Belkoffski,  D-3 185 

Belle  Isle.  B-8 

Cape  Sabine,  A-2 

Chilkat.  C-8 153 


71' 


Katniai,  C-4 

Ketchikan,  C-9 

Killisnoo,  C-9 

Kipmak,  B-3 

Klawock,  C-9 287 

Kodiak,  C-5  * 495 

Kogei ting,  C-4 133 

Kutlik.  B-3 31 

Leather  Village,  B-4 

Lorintr,  C-9 200 

Marv  Island,  D-9 

Metlakahtla  * 

Mitchell,  A-8 238 

Morzhovoi,  D-3 68 

Kig-a-lek,  A-6 

Nikolski,  A-ll 

Nulato,  B-4 118 

Nushaeak,  C-4 268 

Old  Morzhovoi,  C-3 

Orca,  B-6 

Ounalaska.  A-ll 

Pastolik,  B-3 113 

Redoubt  Kolmakoff,  B-4 

Sandpoiut,  C-3 

Seward,  C-5 

Shaeeliik,  B-3 

Shakan.  C-9 

Shaktolik.  B-3 

Sitka,   C-8  * 1190 

St.  Orlovsk,  C-5 

Sntkum,  C-4 

Suworof,  C-4 

Takti.  C-9 

Tikchik,  B-4 

Dkak,  C-4 

Unalaklik.  B-3 175 

Unalas^a,  D-2 817 

Unga,  C-3 159 

Village,  C-4 

Wrangel,  C-9 

Yakitat,  C-8 


Addenda. 

Pop. 

Weare,  B  5      

Circle  City,  B7 

Dawson.  U  '■ 

Klondyke  River.  B8 

Klond\ke  District,  B8  .. 
Dyea,  C8        


Rand,  McNally  &  Co.'s 

Large   Map  of  Alaska 

SIZE,  24X36    INCHES. 

From  United  States  and  Dominion  of  Canada  Official 
Survey,  revised  to  July  29,  1897,  shows  in  detail 


THE    GOLD    FIELDS    OF 
THE    KLONDIKE    REGION 

The  Routes  from 

JUNEAU,  YUKON    RIVER  and 

NORTHERN 

BRITISH   COLUMBIA 

Locates   and   names 


DAWSON 
FORT  RELIANCE 
FORTY  MILE  CREEK 
SIXTY  MILE  CREEK 
FORT  SELKIRK 
JUNEAU 

TELEGRAPH  CREEK 
TESLIN  RIVER 


LEWIS   RIVER 
CHILKOOT  PASS 
CHILKAT  PASS 
WHITE  PASS 
ATLIN  LAKE 
WRANGELL 
TESLIN  LAKE 
TAMZILLA  RIVER 


And  all  other   points  of  importance. 


SCALE    1 :  3,600,000,  OR  55  MILES  TO  THE  INCH. 


Price,  in  pocket  form,  50  cents.     Sent  to  any  address  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada  prepaid,  upon  receipt  of  price. 

Rand,  McNally  &  Co.,  Publishers, 

NEW    YORK    BRANCH  f^  |_l  I  f*    r%   f  r\ 

61    EAST    NINTH    STREET.  ..t.UI  lll>  AUU. 


For   Convenient  Reference. 

NEW  COLORED  MAPS  OF  EVERY  COUNTRY  IN  THE  WORLD. 

AN   ACCURATE    UP-TO-DATE    READY   REFERENCE  WORK   FOR  THE 

USE  OF  EVERYBODY. 


#ilpiy 


Popular 


160    PAGES.      SIZE,   12  X  14   INCHES. 

Showing  NOTHING   BUT   MAPS    of 

Each  State,  Territory,  and  large  City  in  the  United 
States,  Provinces  of  Canada,  the  Continents 
and  their  Subdivisions,  with  Ready -reference 
Marginal  Index. 


Bound  in  stiff  cloth,  colored  edges.    Price,  $2. 50 


The  LATEST 

ACKNOWLEDGED 

STANDARD    MANUAL 

FOR 

Presidents,  Secretaries, 

DIRECTORS,    CHAIRMEN, 

ii^  rnr~ininr   officers, 


And  everyone  in  anyway  connected 
with  public  life  or  corporate  bodies 

IS 

Reed's  Rules 


BY 

THE  HON.  THOMAS  B.  REED, 

Speaker  of  the 

House  of  Representatives, 

"I  commend  the  book  most  highly." 

WILLIAM    McKINLEY, 

President  of  the  United  States. 

"Reasonable,  right,  and  rigid." 

J.   STERLING    MORTON, 

Ex-Secretary  of  Agriculture. 

CLOTH,   75    CENTS, 

LEATHER,  $1.25.  " 

RAND,  McNALLY  &   CO.,  Publishers, 
CHICAGO. 


MARAH   ELLIS    RYAN'S  WORKS 


A  FLOWER  OF  FRANCE. 

A  Story  of  Old  Louisiana. 
The  story  is  well  told.—  Herald,  New  York. 

A  real  romance— just  the  kind  of  romance  one  delights  in.—  Times,  boston 
Full  of  stirring  incident  and  picturesque  description.— Press,  Philadelphia. 
The  interest  holds  the  reader  until  the  closing  page.— Inter  Ocean,  Chicago. 
Told  with  great  fascination  and  brightness.  v  *  *  The  general  impression 
Jelightful.  *  *  *  Many  thrilling  scenes. — Herald,  Chicago. 
A  thrilling  story  of  passion  and  action.  - Commercial,  Memphis. 

A  PAGAN  OF  THE  ALLEGHANIES. 

A  genuine  art  work.— Chicago  Tribune. 

A  remarkable  book,  original  and  dramatic  in  conception,  and  pure  and 
noble  in  tone. — Boston  Literary  World. 

REV.  DAVID  SWING  said:  -The  books  of  Marah  Ellis  Ryan  give  great 
pleasure  to  all  the  uest  class  of  readers  "  A  Pagan  of  the  Alleghanies  "  is 
one  of  her  best  works;  but  all  she  writes  is  high  and  pure.  Her  words  are  all 
true  to  nature,  and,  with  her,  nature  is  a  great  theme. 

ROBERT  G.  1NGEHSOLL  says:  -Your  description  of  scenery  and  seasons 
—  of  the  capture  of  the  mountains  by  spring  — of  tree  and  fern,  of  laurel, 
cloud  and  mist,  and  the  woods  of  the  forest,  are  true,  poetic,  and  beautiful. 
To  say  the  least,  the  pagan  saw  and  appreciated  many  of  the  difficulties  and 
contradictions  that  grow  out  of  and  belong  to  creeds.  He  saw  how  hard  it  is 
to  harmonize  what  we  see  and  know  with  the  idea  that  over  all  is  infinite 
power  and  goodness  *    •    *  the  divine  spark  called  Genius  is  in  your  brain. 


SQUAW  ^LOUISE. 


Vigorous,  natural,  entertaining.—  Boston  Times 
A  notable  performance. — Chicago  Tribune. 
A  very  strong  story,  indeed.— Chicago  Times. 

TOLD  IN  THE  HILLS. 

A  book  that  is  more  than  clever.  It  is  healthy,  brave,  and  inspiring.— St 
Louis  Post-Dispatch. 

The  character  of  Stuart  is  one  of  the  finest  which  has  been  drawn  by  an 
American  woman  in  many  a  day,  and  it  is  depicted  with  an  appreciation 
hardly  to  be  expected  even  from  a  man.— Boston  Herald. 

IN  LOVE'S  DOMAINS. 

There  are  imagination  and  poetical  expressions  in  the  stories,  and  readers 
will  find  them  interesting-—  New  York  Sun. 

The  longest  story,  "Galeed,"  is  a  strong,  nervous  story,  covering  a  wide 
range,  and  dealing  in  a  masterly  way  with  some  intricate  questions  of  what 
might  be  termed  amatory  psychology. — San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

MERZE ;  The  Story  of  an  Actress. 

We  can  not  doubt  that  the  author  is  one  of  the  best  living  orators  of  her 
sex.    The  book  will  possess  a  strong  attraction  for  women  —Chicago  Herald. 

This  is  the  story  of  the  life  of  an  actress,  told  in  the  graphic  style  of  Mrs 
Ryan     It  is  very  interesting.  —  Ne  w  Orleans  Picayune. 


FOR  SALE  BY  ALL  BOOKSELLERS 
HAND.  McNALLY  &  CO.,  Publishers,  Chicago  and  fciew  York 


ESTABLISHED    1840. 


GEO.  B.  CARPENTER  &  CO. 


MANUFACTURERS   OF 


Miners'  and  Camping 


■ —  _Jfess£^?*3?*iS&fc._ 


Sleeping  Bags 

Camp  Outfits 

WATER-PROOF  CLOTHING, 
WATER-PROOF  DUNNAGE  BAGS,  Etc. 


WESTERN    AGENTS    FOR    THE 

Primus   Cooking   Stove 

Used  Exclusively  by  NANSEN  on  his  Trip 
to   the    Pole. 


Send  4  cents  in  stamps  for  Catalogue, 
and  mention  this  Guide. 

202,    204,    206,    208   South   Water  Street, 
CHICAGO,   ILL. 


.uaska-Klondike 

Gold  Mining  Company 

CAPITAL  STOCK...500,000  Shares. 

Par  Value...$10.00  each. 

Full  Paid— Non-Assessable, 
******** 

This  Company  is  a 

Transportation, 

Commercial,  and  Mining  Corporation 

owning  large  GOLD  GRAVEL  claims  on  the  Yukon, 
Klondike,  and  other  rivers  in  Alaska,  and  now  have 
under  construction  steamers  to  ply  on  the  Yukon 
next  season. 

The  Board  of  Directors  are  a  sufficient  guarantee  that  the 
affairs  of  the  Company  will  be  well  managed. 

DIRECTORS. 

JAMES  RICE, 

Late  Secretary  State  of  Colorado. 
WM.  SHAW, 

Capitalist,  Chicago. 
E.  M.  TITCOMB,  Vice-Pres't  and  Gen'l  Manager, 

Eastman  Fruit  Despatch  Co. 
H.  C.  FASH, 

Member  Maritime  Exchange,  New  York. 
GEO.  W.  MORGAN, 

Circle  City,  Alaska. 


A  limited  amount  of  Shares  are   offered  at   $10.00  per  Share. 

For  information,  address, 

Alaska-Klondike  Cold  Mining  Co. 

96    BROADWAY,  NEW    YORK. 

Hon.  JAMES  RICE,  president. 

W.    L.    BOYD,   SECRETARY. 


+  HO!    FOR   THE 

t  Klondike     : 

X  REGIONS    AND   THE  T 

I  Gold  Fields  ♦ 

♦      —  of  Alaska     ♦ 


♦  ♦ 

♦  "\\  e  make  a  specialty  of  outfitting,  and 

can  supply  you  with  everything   you  ^ 

^L  eat,  wear,  or  use.     We  have  ^ 

▼  JumbO  Shirts,  Underwear  and  Hosiery  ▼ 

▼  for  the  Northern  Regions,  ▼ 

^P  sold  bv  us  exclusivelv,  ^^ 

#  ♦ 

^  Gum  Boots,  Fur  Robes  and  Blankets,  ^ 

Miners'  Boots,        Canned  Food  Products, 

▼  Woolen  Shirts,        Meats,  ♦ 

♦  Pants,  Portable  Camp  Outfits  ♦ 

^  Overcoats,  (tin  and  aluminum1!.  ^ 

▲  Arctic  Clothing,      Miners'  Tools,  ± 

a  Sleeping  Bags,         Guns  and  Ammunition.  J 

A  !n   fact,   we  can  supply  you  with   anything  and  ^k 

everything  you'll  need  during  your  stay  in  Alaska. 

^  Our  General  Catalogue  ^  Buyers'  Guide  #> 

^^  Tells  the  prices.     Send    15    cents   to   partly  pay  ^p 

♦  postage  or  expressage,  and  we'll  send  you  a  copy.  ^k 

It  has  nearly  Soo  pages,  over   13.000  illustrations, 

^^  and  more  than  40.00c   descriptions  of  everything  4fr 

^^  you  wear  or  use.  ^^ 

♦  MONTGOMERY  WARD  &  Co.  ♦ 

T  1  1  1  to  120  Michigan  Ave., 

A  CHICAGO.  ? 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE   UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  Look  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  "below 

1     ,D   FEC'D  LD-URC     j 

Wfc    FEB    3  1.9751 


5*  «G, 


JUL  5     1950 


\Pk  lo  id 

APR  1  7  REC^ 


AY  9    1951 


MAR  12  1975 


iftittL 


18«M 


BUTTLE  REJECTS!*  BY  BINDERY 


T  &o  *\ 


»>m-l, '41(1122) 


3   1158   00019   9 


iiniiii»iii)!iiHiiRN  REGI0NAL  UBRARV 
A  A      000177  358 


fe;;ky: 


. 


